Rejected Love
by taints
Summary: "Shut up! I don't even want to hear my name coming out of your filthy mouth. Don't come to my house ever again, don't ask me to tutor you. Don't even look at me! "Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar and looked at him with hatred burning in his eyes."If I see you looking at me again, I won't hesitate to put you in jail."
1. Rejected

**My first chapter , that's been written by me and edited by . .Tenshi.** **the best Bete Reader ever! I really appreciate her doing this for me . So thank you! Please do drop a review we would like to know what y** **ou thought about it . (:**

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Chapter One

Uzumaki Naruto was an average trouble-making student in Konoha high school. Always pulling pranks, the teen was continuously getting in trouble and receiving scoldings.

The teen lived alone in his apartment ever since his parents died. Not being able to pay for his living space, he had moved into a small apartment in the City. Everything was new, his school, friends and his life. They had all changed, and probably not for the better. The blond had been going to Konoha high school for about three months and knew almost everyone. However nobody paid attention to Naruto because he was an outcast.

For most of his life the whiskered teen was alone. Only one person had ever accepted him for who he was, never ignoring him or calling him nobody, that person Sasuke Uchiha.  
The raven haired boy always helped Naruto with his studies by tutoring him. Naruto had pulled pranks on Sasuke but for some reason the Uchiha always helped him. Not only with his studies but with everything else as well. The teen bailed Naruto out when he was in trouble, and sometimes even took the trouble to eat lunch with him. Sasuke himself didn't know the reason for helping him. Maybe it was out of pity, or genuine liking for the other teen's cheerful persona.

Naruto had noticed something about himself. When he was alone with another man, he would look at their 'inappropriate parts'. He tried stopping himself many times but his eyes disobeyed him. That's when he discovered he was gay. The blond had attempted liking girls so he could be a normal teen but nothing worked. He had even gone so far as looking at p*** magazines, but nothing would work. So he gave up and finally admitted being homosexual to his self.

With Sasuke being the closest to Naruto, by tutoring him, helping him and giving him a hand whenever he needed it, it was no surprise that the teen began to develop feelings. It started with a crush but soon Naruto discovered he was in love with Sasuke Uchiha. The high schooler couldn't help himself, and who could blame him? Sasuke's looks, his attitude, and personality made everyone fall head over heels for him.  
And the blond certainly wasn't the first. Girls were drawn to the other teen like bees to honey. Naruto decided that he needed to confess his Love for Sasuke, whether he liked it or not. He just couldn't hold this feeling forever.

Naruto woke up lazily, arms stretching above his head as he yawned. Wasn't there something important he was supposed to do today? Hmmmm he couldn't remember. And then he remembered that he was going to confess to Sasuke. The teen jumped out of bed, man that Uchiha gave Naruto butterflies in his stomach. Whenever he thought of the other male, he could run a mile.  
Aww crap he was going to be late! Naruto jumped into a white shirt and black jeans before running out the door bag in hand and toast in mouth. Usually, Naruto would head out to school slowly and taking his time, but today was special. Today was the day he would confess his love.  
Naruto finally entered the school, and as always it was packed with students rushing back and forth before class started. Some flirting, some carrying books to their lockers and some just talking with their friends. He walked casually until someone bumped him. Naruto lost his balance but luckily he didn't fall, he turned around and waited for an apology, but the person just walked as if nothing happened. He sighed, people always treated him like this, like an outcast, a nobody. And sometimes he wondered if he was/  
All of a sudden noise in the hallway grew tenfold, as girls began to squeal. Girls squealing could only mean one thing, Sasuke the king of Konoha High had arrived. There were girls swarming all around him. Naruto could've sworn he saw a girl faint as Sasuke strolled by her. But he couldn't blame her. The blond knew the feeling.

Sasuke's pale skin, onyx eyes and beautiful silky hair, was enough to make any girl fall for him. But Naruto didn't love him for his looks, he had fallen for Sasuke because he was the first one to accept him for who he was, he loved him because he didn't treat him as an outcast, and he loved him because he saw him as a somebody instead of a nobody.  
The bell rang, ripping him from his thoughts. Class was going to start soon and he didn't want be lectured for being late in front of the students (Courtesy of Sasuke). Naruto began walking to his classroom and was quickly swept up by the swarm of students rushing to their classes. Upon being deposited in front of his class, he could tell that it was already in a fuss with girls fighting over who got to sit next Sasuke again. There wasn't a girl who sat next to Sasuke permanently, she would get killed by every other girl in their class.  
Naruto walked to the back of the classroom and silently took his seat. After five minutes the teacher arrived, and class began. They studied and like always Sasuke aced everything with hardly any effort. The girls gazed dreamily and Naruto sat there without saying a word. Class was eventually dismissed, and some of the students left the classroom. Others stayed and chatted.  
Naruto sat silently. He kept thinking, how was he going to confess to Sasuke? Where and how will he tell him? These thoughts kept swarming in his mind only to be wiped away as the man in question approached him.

"Naruto. " Said teen looked up to see a tall handsome figure, which was Sasuke.

"H-Hey Sasuke." Naruto blushed slightly and ducked his head.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"I mean you haven't bugged me all day to give you answers to our homework or to tutor you, you've been quite all morning which isn't like you at all to be this quite." Naruto blushed again. Was he that obvious?

"Well I...um" Nervous fidgeting.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked one more time, eyes furrowed in confusion.

"Can I ... talk ... to you?"

"Sure. "

"In private," Naruto added. Sasuke nodded and gestured for Naruto to get up, the blonde stood and followed Sasuke with his head down. He was attempting to calm his stuttering heart. The walk was short and soon both stood in the most deserted part of the school. The whiskered teen glanced around to make sure that the duo were alone. He spotted a couple of girls, but they were no way near close enough to hear the impending conversation.

"What is that you wanted to talk about?" Sasuke asked. Better get it over with now rather than later.

"Well I ...I " Naruto blushed madly when he thought about he wanted to say, but Sasuke waited patiently. How would he say this? Spin a long story or just spit it right out?  
"I-I…love ...you " Sasuke froze at Naruto's words .

"W-what did you say?" It was not like the raven to stutter and Naruto glanced up, not knowing what to expect.

"Y-you were the first to accept me and help me. I always bothered you but you never pushed me away, you kept helping me. You are smart and talented and wonderful, I wake up every day because of you. You're the reason I keep going .You're the reason I'm still here. I love you Sasuke." He finished strong and waited with baited breath for a reply. There was silence and then 2 words that Naruto dreaded hearing.

" Y-you're gay." The words were filled with disgust and each stabbed at his hear.

"I-" Naruto was cut off by Sasuke.

"You gay freak!"

"What?" Naruto froze. He had never thought it would turn out this way. Sasuke was always understanding. Sasuke was always kind. Who was this in front of him?

"You're disgusting what's wrong with you?! I can't believe I was friends with you! You're just some gay freak!"

"Sasu-"

"Shut up! I don't even want to hear my name coming out of your filthy mouth. Don't come to my house ever again, don't ask me to tutor you. Don't even look at me! "  
Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar and looked at him with hatred burning in his eyes.

"If I see you looking at me again, I won't hesitate to put you in jail " he let go of Naruto roughly and stormed off.

Naruto fell to his knees with fresh tears rolling down his cheek. His heart shattered into a million pieces. All his hope in life has been destroyed in seconds. Was it this hard to be loved? He only wanted one person in this world to accept him, but everyone hated him. Wasn't the pain of living without parents enough? Everyday when he returned home, he wished someone would yell a 'welcome back.'

But that never happened and it'll never happen. Going to school, getting bullied every single day just for being homsexual. Everyday he would go back to his apartment with a sore body from all the kicking. He wanted to die so badly, but he had a light in this life. Sasuke. But that light disappeared.

Naruto promised himself not to self harm. he tried many times but he would stop when he remembered Sasuke. He would stop when he knows we he still had hope in this dark world. But now there's no hope when his only light had been extinguished. Naruto wanted to know what was wrong with being gay. Wasn't he still a person? Doesn't he still have feelings? People treated him differently, they treated him like an animal. He wanted to die so badly and end this pain, end this suffering. And he thought that he'll do it soon, soon enough.

Naruto tried wiping his tears, but fresh ones replaced the old ones. He tried and tried but it was no use. Who can blame him he was rejected and was called ugly things by his own love? He got up and placed his hand over his heart.

"It hurts. It just hurts. Why won't anyone love me? I wanna be loved... I haven't done anything wrong have I? Why can't I just die?! Let me burn in hell! Better then this pain!"


	2. The pain

Chapter Two

Naruto walked to his apartment . He went inside and slammed the door. He tossed his bag and rushed to his bed to sob. He stayed there for a while, his back heaving and breathing heavy. Tears wettened his sheets and fell from his face one after another. They just never stopped . His heart felt so heavy and hurted him so much . He wanted to end the pain and die. He now has no reason to live. No friends, no family, only nothing. Why was this happening to him? He never did anything wrong in his life, but people still hated him. They always have and always will.

Naruto finally got up. He went to his kitchen. He pulled the drawer open and took out a small silver blade. He then went back to his room and sat on the floor. He pulled down his sleeve to show his bare arm. He placed the sharp edge of blade on his arm and sliced a line across his wrist, breaking the pressure of his skin. Blood seeped out of the cut in droplets and fell onto the carpet, one by one. This pain isn't even equal to the pain in his heart. People rejected him, hurt him, and hated him. Enough is enough. His heart just couldn't take all the pain anymore. He cut again and only again, staggering the once fine and smooth skin with hatches. His once bare arm was satisfyingly covered in crosshatches of deep red. He dropped the blade and tiled his head back to shut his eyes and cry. Thoughts came swirling into his mind like a tornado in Kansas."Sasuke...why? Why do you hate me? I loved you. No one loved me. You were the first to accept me. And the first to create a wound this deep in my heart. I swear it wasn't me that picked you, it was my heart! You have every right to hate me! I'm just a nobody...I just want you to be happy, if not seeing me makes you happy. Then I'll stay away from you. As long as you're happy..." Naruto soon lost consciousness due to blood loss.

-The Next Day-

Naruto woke up on the blood soiled carpet. He remembered everything from the previous day. He got up looking at his arms, they were full of scratches and dried blood. It was 7 AM. Even though he didn't want to go to school, he got ready anyways. He had to because he knew his punishment will be painful if he was absent. He walked to the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. All he could focus on was how dull his eyes were and how faded and messy his hair was. He hated it, those marks on his cheeks, and how tan his skin was. He hated everything about himself, no wonder why Sasuke hated him. He was just an ugly gay freak.

He then decided he needed a hot shower to clean off all the blood and to calm down. He took off his clothes and and went over to his shower. In the shower his cuts stung as water drippled across them. He ignored it and went ahead to wash his body and hair. As soon as he closed his eyes an image of Sasuke popped in his head. Naruto winced and punched the wall. "God dammit! Why do I keep remembering you?! Why are you all I can think of?!" Naruto stepped out of his shower and took a towel and wrapped it around his lower reigon angrily. He exited the bathroom and got dressed into a long sleeved shirt to make sure his scars were nowhere to be seen. He grabbed his bag and locked the door when he got out.

Naruto sighed to himself. how was he going to face Sasuke after yesterday? Sasuke now hated his guts. He remembered his words and frowned. _"_ _Shut up! I don't even want to hear my name coming out of your filthy mouth._ _Don't come to my house ever again, don't ask me to tutor you. Don't even look at me!"_

He soon arrived at school. The school looked deserted, but he wasn't going to go back. It wasn't like the school will eat him If he arrived a bit early. He entered the hallways there wasn't anyone there except for five students. Naruto didn't care. All he wanted was to get to class so this day could end sooner. The blond passed some teen that looked like he was going to the gym since he was born. His muscles looked like they were going to rip through his shirt and all of his bones any moment now. Naruto just passed him, not even making eye contact with him.

"Hey you! " Naruto turned around and finally made eye contact with him.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked, innocent toned.

"Hell yeah there is, queer freak. You and being gay is the problem." Naruto was shocked, stunned, and dumbfounded all in one. Why did people wanna bother him this much? It wasn't like he was the only gay guy in the whole world.

"What's wrong with me being gay?" He shouted, obviously angered.

"You little pissy queen, don't talk to me like that!" Naruto was going to remark back, but he felt a bloodcurdling punch land in his gut. Due to the impact, he started hacking and coughing up blood.

"W-Why are you doing this to me?" He muttered through pants.

"Because I hate faggots, that's why." The bully picked him up by the collar again and swung another punch to Naruto's gut. The bully once again let go of his collar and let him fall down to the ground, with the blood from before still dripping from his swollen lips.

"Please-stop..."

"Shut up!" A kick was planted into the boy on the floor's stomach. "You're just some pansy girly boy! Just go burn in hell. No wants you alive. Just do a favor for us normal humans and kill yourself!" The bully picked up Naruto by his collar and slammed him against the lockers.

"You're a nobody, someone who's supposed to die and not exist. Everyone wants you dead. So just go drink some bleach. It'll make us all happy. You're just a waste of pure oxygen. Some people need it more then you. So just die already" He let go of Naruto but not before he gave him another good kick. He left with a scowl on his face.

Naruto just sat there, his tears already like a fountain. Why did they hate him so much? Why was everybody directing their hatred to him? Wasn't he a normal human? Why do they hate me? I want to die! I want to go and burn myself. I haven't done anything and I'm hated like this. Why? I just want one person to accept me and love me. That'll never happen . Who wants to be seen with a freak like me?! I'm a nobody , a stupid ugly freak! Tears were burning his bloodshot, swollen cheeks. One tear after another. They just never stopped because he had no control over them. Death was better then being called a nobody, gay freak, outcast, and so much more. He just wanted to get out of this dark world. And finally be happy. And death was the far best solution.

Naruto finally got up. His body was sore from all the kicks and punches, but so was his heart. He dragged himself and his bag to the classroom. He knocked the door and when a "come in" was heard, he opened the door. To Naruto's surprise, class had already started. He had been laying there for a while. Nearly everyone was staring at him, fire burning in their hate-filled eyes.

"Where were you? Class started fifteen minutes ago. And what happened to your clothes? This is a school, not a home for the homeless."

"I'm sorry, something happened and I accidentally hurt myself. I just noticed that I was bleeding."

"This is your last chance. Take your seat."

"Thank you." he entered and took his seat, still receiving looks and scowls from most people in the room. Especially from Sasuke. If glares could kill, Naruto would be long dead by now. "This was going to be a long day..." Naruto mentally sighed

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 **I'm sorry for publishing this again but I recently got this by my Co-Author . I thought you guys wanted to see it in a better form then before . Also thank you for adding this story . It really means a lot to me :)**


	3. Hated

Chapter Three

Naruto took his seat quietly avoiding every glare that the students give him. His heart was beating so fast those glares , especially Sasuke's were going to kill him . Hate rose in the room . Naruto was used this , it happened almost everyday but when he knew Sasuke was one of them his heart stung .

His best friend , his crush , his main reason to live, hates him . Damn homophones. Why couldn't they mind their own business? Why did they hate him so much? And for Naruto's luck Sasuke was the biggest homophone he ever knew . This pain would just never end.

Class eventually started and like always Sasuke acing everything and girls were fangirling over him . But it was Interrupted the sound of knocking on the door . At tall beautiful figure stood beside the door after the teacher muttered a 'come in'. She held a clipboard close to her chest and looked a the students one by one.

"Can I help you?" Asked the teacher annoyed

"is there a Uzumaki Naruto and a Uchiha Sasuke in this classroom?" She said flipping through her clipboard . The teacher nodded .

"They are both needed in the principal office , now" The teacher gestured for them to leave , with a look of annoyance written all over her face. Sasuke got up and walked to the door with Naruto behind him . Naruto was looking at the ground trying to avoid Sasuke's eyes . Naruto really wanted to look at Sasuke's beautiful eyes again but he knew the trouble that he'd get into . So he avoided them by looking at the floor.

Sasuke followed the woman frustrated . He knew Naruto was behind him the last person he wanted to see . He just disgusted him , he hated him so much he really wanted him to die and he couldn't care less of they way he would do it.

Sasuke and Naruto both arrived at the principals office . Sasuke knocked the door with Naruto behind him a few feet away , he knew he'd bother Sasuke , he knew he hated him . So why put ant effort in getting close to him when he knew that he'd get hurt again? Sasuke entered the office after he heard a 'come in' Naruto then entered behind Sasuke .

The principal was a woman . And the first woman to ever be successful being a principal . She was called lady Tsunade also She had blond hair tied into two low pony tails , with big brown eyes . She looked very beautiful and young . But rumors had it she was over fifty years old , of course no one believed that since there was no clue of her being over fifty.

"Take a seat" Sasuke and Naruto both took a seat in front of her desk . Naruto sat down with his hands buried in him lap, While Sasuke sat casually.

"So as you know this school is famous for having the most highest grades in Japan" she explained . Sasuke nodded since Naruto wouldn't give a reaction.

"And Naruto has been failing a lot of tests . And you Sasuke have the best grades in the whole school"

"Where are you going with this?" Sasuke asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"I'm saying that Sasuke , you have to tutor Naruto"

"What?!" Sasuke got up . With an angry and disgusted look on his face. He clenched his hands into fists .

"You heard me, You're going to tutor Naruto "

"I'm not tutoring that faggot! How do you accept me to stay with him in one room when I can't stand him for one whole second! He's disgusting! I'll never accept him! And of course I won't tutor him! " Naruto was stunned . His heart once again stung .The pain he tried to forget was all back . One tear rolled down his sour cheek . He wiped it but another fresh tear rolled down again . He tried stopping himself but the tears wouldn't stop. Tsunade's heart was broken after she saw the poor teen cry. She knew what he's been through , but she really never cared if he's homosexual. He was still a person right? He had feelings and he had a heart . Yet people treat him like an animal .

She slammed her hands on the desk and grabbed Sasuke's collar roughly.

"Listen to me. I don't care who your father is or what he does you will tutor Naruto And if you don't you won't graduate from this school alive on my watch . Got that?! "her voice was cold and threatening . Sasuke was stunned and for the first time in his life he actually was afraid of a woman.

"O-Okay" Sasuke suttered . Tsunade held his collar rougher. And pulled him closer until there faces were only inches from touching . Tsunade's eyes were burning in hatred . And somehow Sasuke was afraid of them . Again

" I said got that!"

"Yes! I do, I'll tutor him!"

"Good , and you'll start from tomorrow for a whole month. You may leave now" Sasuke existed the office and Naruto thanked the principal for helping him . For the first time in his life he felt a warm feeling inside , someone actually cared .

Sasuke was so frustrated he wanted to let his whole rage on Naruto . He was the main reason why he had to put up with him . If he just worried about his damn grades this never would've happened.

"S-Sasuke" Naruto said a bit frightened. He focused his gaze on the floor .

"What?! Didn't I tell you not to say my name!" Sasuke faced Naruto with his hands clenched into fists again .

"I-I'm sorry " Sasuke just stormed off angrily.

"W-Wait!" Naruto chased after Sasuke.

Sasuke stopped and looked at Naruto with a disgusted face.

"What do you want?!"

"Y-you don't have to tutor me , you could just tell the principal that you are , I..I don't wanna be a bother to you..Sasuke" Naruto said everything strong just like last time . But this time he didn't make eye contact.

"Why should I trust a faggot like you? I'll never trust you." Sasuke walked past Naruto like he never even existed . And again Naruto was hurt by the same person. They soon walked back to their classroom , Naruto walked again a few feet behind Sasuke . He was hurt he wanted to go back to his small apartment and sob all day there . But he knew he had to be a man and stop his crying . So he held it in he buried his feelings . Everything that had happened to him is buried inside he kept his feelings in , he knew it's bad for his health but how would he let these feelings out? No one listened , no one cared , no even payed attention to him . So keeping everything inside is the best solution Naruto can come up with.

The bell rang alerting everyone to head back home . Today again was a rough day for Naruto. Life was hard . Then again Everything was hard . Going to school , getting beaten up , working , then sleeping . That was his daily routine , he never got a chance to do his homework . It wasn't his fault he couldn't keep up with the other students in school . He would always come back with a sour body from the bulling then seconds after he changed from his school uniform to his work clothes and sometimes he takes extra shifts and work over night . His boss wasn't someone nice either he would always give the blond a small raise , he thought it was okay sense he was gay.

Sasuke soon arrived at his home. He ran upstairs avoiding his yelling mother . He slammed his bedroom door and threw his bag across the room . He was frustrated the last person he wanted to see and even look at .had to be seeing him everyday for thirty days . Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh . How was he going to live threw these days? How was he going to tutor him without feeling disgusted? A knock on Sasuke's door ripped him out of his thoughts

"What?" Sasuke said annoyed

"Is that how you treat your older brother?" Sasuke got up and swung the door open. The young Uchiha saw Itachi holding some kind of folder but payed no attention to it.

"Itachi , I'm not in the mood to be arguing with you"

"Why? Is tutoring Naruto that bad" Sasuke gave Itachi a confused look.

"How do you know?"

"We got a call from your principal saying if you didn't tutor him you'll be suspended from every school you'll attend"

"She was serious?!" Itachi nodded

"Dead serious " the younger Uchiha ran his fingers threw his hair

"How am I going to tutor him?! He's gay!"

"Sasuke sit down , I need to talk to you"

"About what?"

"Just sit down , You have to hear this" Sasuke sat on his bed with Itachi next to him

"What is it?"

"It's about Naruto. Sasuke you're giving him a hard time"

"Me?! Giving him a hard time! How?!"

"Sasuke , you don't know what's he been through and yet you treat him like trash just like the others"

"And how do you know that?"

"That's not important now. As I was saying . Sasuke you need to cut the kid some slack"

"He's gay , why should I be nice to a gay guy?!"

"Because he's been bullied everyday for being homosexual , been an orphan at the age 4 , lived in foster care and he works everyday to eat"

"Ho-" Sasuke was cut off by Itachi waving a folder in front of his eyes

"I asked a folder from Lady Tsunade .I wouldn't let my younger brother tutor someone without fully knowing him first "

Itachi got up and glanced at Sasuke once more

"Think about what your doing and how it will affect others " Itachi then left , Sasuke mentally sighed .

"Well guess what big brother I'm not buying it , it's probably just a fake act"


	4. Tutoring

**I'm so sorry! My tablet screw up big time, I manged to fix it by logging on my laptop and since I left this note here , I wanted to say thank you all for your support,it seems you guys really like this fic. And I'll update again when I get the time :)**

Chapter Four

Naruto arrived at school not to early today. After what happened last time with the bullies he decided to arrive not too early and not too late, but in between it was the best solution Naruto has come up with. The blond took his seat and again he was receiving death glares from everyone. He ignored them, but his heart stung yet again when he knew Sasuke wanted him to die so badly. Naruto thought if that's what made Sasuke happy he'd do it. Anything for Sasuke—even if it meant dying for him.

Class started and everything went like always, but for the first time in Naruto's life he didn't want this day to end. He knew that he had to meet Sasuke after school, he didn't want to be with a person that made him feel like trash, but there's nothing he could do. It was the principal's choice after all.

Time flew very quick, the bell rang alerting the students to go home. Naruto was about to leave—he didn't want Sasuke mad after all. He placed everything in his small backpack, and exited the classroom. That's when a strong impact made him fall across the hallway.

Naruto opened his eyes to see the same person that bullied him last time. Blood was now dripping from the blonds mouth, his cheek was already sore from the impact of the punch. His blue eyes widened as he looked at the bully with fear. He didn't want to be hurt again, he didn't want to be called ugly names by him again. He just wished people would mind their own business and leave him alone.

The pain would never stop.

"Didn't I tell you to kill yourself?! Why are you still here?!"

"Please, leave me alone. I-I'll do anything but please just stop," Naruto begged, his eyes carrying fear and sorrow at the same time. People were staring but didn't even bother to interfere.

"I'll only stop when you're dead!" The bully picked Naruto by his shirt and punched him again. Both of his cheeks were sore. His once clean white shirt was now stained with blood.

The bully threw the small teen hard on the ground and kicked him in his stomach. It hurt. His face was already hurting, it wasn't in a matter of time until his stomach was going to be hurting, too. And the bully left as if nothing just happened. Students just kept staring. They didn't even bother to help him. And some of them were even smirking…they really did despise the poor blond.

Naruto sat up wiping away blood.

The whiskered teen soon remembered about Sasuke. He didn't want the raven to be mad it him again, he tried standing up but the pain wouldn't let him. Yet, he knew that Sasuke would get really angry if he was late.

So Naruto stood up ignoring the pain, he soon exited the hallway and saw Sasuke waiting for him with a very furious look with his brows furrowed in anger.

Naruto bowed to Sasuke showing his apologies. "I-I'm so sorry Sasuke! I didn't mean to be late!"

Sasuke saw his white shirt that was covered with stains of blood and his cheeks that were very sore . How did he get hurt? It's not like he actually cared or something—just out of curiosity.

"Tch, you better not do it again, you're just a waste of my precious time," Sasuke snapped.

Naruto lifted his head, but was still looking at the ground. "T-Thank you, I won't do it again."

"Hn."

Sasuke avoided the sight of Naruto's shirt stained with blood; he avoided the blonds swollen cheeks; he avoided his eyes that showed sadness.

He avoided everything about Naruto.

On the way to Sasuke's house, Naruto kept looking at the ground and stood a few feet behind the dark haired teen. The blond kept rubbing his cheeks as they were swollen and the pain worsened more by time. His shirt still had a few stains of blood. He had to find a excuse about the blood and his sore cheeks. Naruto sighed, he knew Sasuke saw the blood stains and his cheeks and he didn't even ask him what happened. Guess he really did hate his guts.

Sasuke and Naruto entered the Uchiha residence, and luckily for Naruto all the Uchiha's weren't home. They were only greeted by maids. Sasuke went to his room with Naruto following behind. As they entered Naruto eyed Sasuke's room. It had changed.

He had many family pictures and posters but now they're all down. Naruto wondered why he moved them. While Naruto was thinking he felt something thrown on his face, he blinked a couple of times before seeing what it was. It was another white shirt. Why was a shirt thrown on his face?

"Wear it," Sasuke simply said

"Why? Isn't it yours?"

"My parents are arriving soon , and you're covered with blood. They'll ask a lot of stupid questions, so go get changed in the bathroom."

For a moment Naruto thought that Sasuke cared again like old times, but he was wrong. The Uchiha just didn't want his parents seeing him covered with blood. He didn't care about him.

Naruto nodded and changed to the new clean shirt. He threw the bloody one away, the stains aren't easily removed p so why hold on to it? The shirt of course was huge on Naruto's small and skinny body, but he ignored it .

-Thirty minutes later-

"That's wrong! Didn't I tell you not to repeat that step?" Sasuke snapped, obviously frustrated.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Why did you repeat that step two times?!"

"I-I didn't understand…" Naruto said with his gaze focusing on his lap

"I asked you if you understood and you nodded!"

"I-I didn't want to bother you," Naruto whispered, but enough for Sasuke to hear.

"Well guess what! YOU did bother me! And You're just a nuisance for being here! You're just a waste of my time!"

"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke!" A stinging pain spread through Naruto's cheek as his head snapped to the side, a bright red hand mark showing the extreme force of Sasuke's hit. The Uchiha had just slapped him—and slapped him hard enough to make his whole cheek red with a hand mark.

Sasuke's eyes widened at the action. couldn't believe that he let his anger, rage and hatred take over him that easily. It was an accident, an honest accident.

The blond buried his hands in his lap, trying to hide his face from Sasuke, tears managed a way down his red cheek, he tried wiping his tears with the back of his hand but once again it didn't work. Oh how Naruto wanted to disappear from this world right now.

"Naruto I—"

"I'm sorry!" For the first time in Naruto's life he actually rose his voice on purpose.

"Wha—"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being a nuisance! I'm sorry for being hated! I'm sorry for being a fag! I'm sorry for being so weak! I'm sorry for being beaten up! I'm sorry for being rejected! I'm sorry for even living…I'm sorry for existing in the first place…I'm sorry…"

Sasuke was shocked. Even after hurting him, Naruto had said sorry when Sasuke was the one that needed to apologize. Sasuke didn't respond to Naruto. How could someone respond to something like that? How could he even hurt him like that in the first place?!

"I…I guess today's lesson is over, I'll be leaving " Naruto said wiping his tears with his long sleeve "I'm sorry for raising my voice Sasuke, I deserved to be slapped…" Naruto exited the room, and Sasuke just stood there looking at his red hand


	5. Confusion

Chapter Five

Sasuke looked around him , he was in a small place , which looked like an apartment . This place looked so familiar He knew he'd been here before. he was sure this wasn't the first time . Suddenly a door appeared out of no where , just as he opened it, a small figure whimpering could be heard ,which was most likely to be male . Sasuke came closer to that person and placed his hand on the person's shoulder to try to get a better look at his face .

The Uchiha gasped a bit when he saw the person's face; it was Naruto. His face was wet with tears and his eyes were red and puffy which looked like he was crying for a long time,His fresh cuts could be seen and his small body was shivering.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke said with a guilty tone.

"Y-You did this to me..." Tears escaped from the blonds eyes , and rolled down his bruised cheek,slowly.

"W-What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! You're the reason every bad thing has happened to me! You made think about suicide many time times! YOU made me think that I'm just a waste of space! A waste of oxygen!" Naruto slid his sleeve even more to show all kinds of scars and fresh cuts on his wrist " Look! I want to die so bad because of you! You called me a disgusting fag and threatened to call the cops if I even started at your eyes! What kind of life am I living?!"

Sasuke backed away, not knowing what to say.

"Naruto I-"

"Just shut up!I don't even- **BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP** "

"W-Wha-"

Sasuke woke up panting and sweating, fear was clearly written all over his face. "It...It was just a dream...More like a nightmare..." Sasuke said while massaging his temples in hope to calm down.

Of course The Uchiha felt guilty about Naruto , he knew almost everything that happened to him was his fault. He just never admitted it to anyone, not even to himself. Maybe his brother was right,maybe he was bullied everyday , abounded by his parents, hated by everyone, and maybe he was actually right. Sasuke shook his head in order to clear his thoughts and got up to the bathroom. He splashed cold water all over his face , Sasuke finally was calm again . He then took a look at himself on the mirror and sighed. He looked terrible; there were black circles under his eyes and his face was paler than usual. The Uchiha finally decided to get ready for school, and went with his daily routine. And made his way to his own hell.

~After School~

Sasuke sighed as he heard the bell and packed his stuff. He swung his bag behind his back and existed the school . Naruto stood outside the school shifting from place to place , waiting for Sasuke. The Black haired male soon approached the blond.

"let's go" Sasuke muttered , walking. Naruto was taken by Sasuke's action. He actually talked to him , was this a dream? Or was it a trick? He didn't want to get his hopes to high after what happened before, so he remained silent.

The walk was filled with a awkward silence between the two. Sasuke's 'pride' wouldn't let him start a conversation first , while Naruto was too scared of getting yelled at by Sasuke for even talking . Things weren't the same anymore , they really have changed .

But Sasuke felt strange, his heart kept getting heavier and heavier the more he walked with Naruto, he felt guilt slowly swallowing him the longer he walked with the blond. Sasuke stole glances from Naruto while Naruto's head was lowered to the ground, The Blue eyed-male didn't want to face Sasuke like this ,after all he did hurt him mentally and physically, and Naruto thought that Sasuke hated him for being weak and actually crying in-front of him more than once .

Naruto griped harder on the bag when he thought about the moment when Sasuke slapped him, his heart was sinking inside , he felt tears getting ready to fall like a water fall from his eyes , That's when Sasuke noticed the smaller male drying his tears with his long sleeve .Sasuke tried his best to ignore Naruto , but it was so hard to ignore a little angle, as soon as Sasuke was going to ask Naruto 'what was wrong?' the blond turned his head as if he knew Sasuke was watching him.

He felt his heart drop, a million degrees ,why did he feel so bad? He did hurt him after all, but Sasuke was still a human , and Naruto _was_ his best friend . The Uchiha himself didn't know why he treated Naruto that way , the rejecting, hating and slapping , happened out of his hand , he was confused both his heart and mind were confused he thought the only way to solve Naruto's confession was by hating him , and that's what he tried to do.

The two finally arrived at the Uchiha mansion but this time they weren't greeted by maid's only , the whole Uchiha family was home.

"Hello sir , may I take your bag?" The maid asked politely. Sasuke threw the bag to the maid and went up stairs . Naruto gave the maid a small bow and went after Sasuke while taking books out of his bags and holding them to his chest quickly, just about when Naruto was going to enter the Uchiha's room , he tripped which resulted the heavy text books to fall on his wrist . Naruto winced in pain, the scars on his arms were very deep and haven't fully healed, he noticed his sleeve becoming a light shade of red . The blue eyed-male tried to hold the pain in , it was too much, but he manged to keep the pain and got up. His wrist was stinging, his cuts were very deep , deeper than Naruto had thought, but he thought it was for the best if he ignored them and went on with the tutoring session with Sasuke.

The tutoring session went alright at first , until Naruto noticed his text book becoming a light shade of red while writing down his notes , half of his writing was smudged with blood and was hardly read , he took a look at his wrist and it was red.

'W-What am I going to do? And What if Sasuke see's this?...I bet he'll just ignore me...He won't give a damn about me anyway's' Naruto panicked and winced at the sight of blood , and regretted for being there. He sighed and took a look at Sasuke who seemed to be deep in thought. Naruto excused himself, and headed to the bathroom . He slid up his sleeve and blood could be seen allover his wrist , Naruto winced once again at the sight of blood and the feeling of pain. The Uzumaki took off his shirt and started rubbing it with water in hope to move the stains , he splashed water a couple of times over the sleeve and Luckily his shirt was clean again ,he then wrapped toilet paper all over his wrists , whore his shirt and tried drying his sleeves .He tried leaving quickly as possible before Sasuke asks him what happened, but The Uzumaki thought it didn't matter whether he knew or not,he'll just ignore him after , so why put an effort in telling him?

Naruto soon exited the bathroom quickly and sat down.

"Where were you?" Sasuke asked Naruto , curiously.

"I um, I went to the bathroom" Naruto dug his hands in his lap ,while lowering his head , not making eye contact with The Uchiha.

Sasuke sighed and placed his pen on the table. "That's it for today, you can go," Naruto's eye's widened a bit , for the first time in days , Sasuke spoke with him not in a disgusted way.

"T-Thank you." Naruto took his books and got up. Just about when he was going to exit the room, Sasuke's mother opened the door , with a tray in one of her hands.

"H-Hello Miss Uchiha!" Naruto bowed slightly.

"Naruto~ It's been so long since I've last seen you, how have you been?" Mikoto flashed Naruto a warm smile. The Uzumaki suddenly felt something so warm inside of him , he wasn't used to someone being nice to him and Sasuke's mother hasn't seen Naruto for a long time , due to work, so no one else other than Tsunade was this nice to him.

"I-I'm fine , thank you. Would you excuse me? I need to get going."

"Nonsense, I haven't seen you in awhile Naruto , why don't you stay for dinner?"

"I really appreciate your offer! But I-"

"Naruto, you're staying for dinner, and that's final."

"T-Thank you," Naruto excepted Sasuke to be angry and decline his mother's offer , but he did nothing at all.

Naruto again felt something warm inside him. Were things finally taking a different path? Were they going to finally change? Or was he just getting his hopes to high? Maybe Sasuke just acted this way in-front of his parents, or maybe it's an act. Naruto didn't know what to believe in anymore.

Naruto greeted all the other Uchiha's shyly and sat down . The Uchiha mansion was very big , their dining room was twice as big Naruto's apartment and the dining table was very long . Fugaku sat at the shorter end of the table with Mikoto on the opposite side , Naruto sat next to Itachi , while Sasuke was in-front the two. Everyone began eating quietly, But there was an awkward silence , Naruto honestly didn't mind this silence , anything but talking in-front of Sasuke .

"So Naruto,how's school?" Mikoto asked while Naruto sighed, there went the silence.

"It's going alright." Naruto answered with a small smile , hoping she wouldn't detect his lie.

"That's great!" Mikoto smiled " Oh Sasuke, I noticed you haven't hung out with Naruto for some time now, did something happen?" Sasuke was taken by his mother's sudden question.

"I uh we-"

"We do hang out! But We've been busy with all these exams" Naruto covered Sasuke quickly.

"But don't the exams start next week?"

"W-Well the teachers thought it'd be better if we'd get over it already" Naruto laughed nervously.

"Oh,now that makes sense, I hope this doesn't affect your friendship ,because it'll be a shame if you two weren't friends anymore." Mikoto smiled softly at both Naruto and Sasuke .

Sasuke was shocked at Naruto's sudden move, he never thought he'd actually help him like that. Sasuke started doubting himself , he was very confused , he didn't know what to think or do anymore , he began thinking that maybe he was wrong about Naruto, or maybe Naruto was acting in-front of Sasuke's parents. This situation gave Sasuke a headache from all this overthinking.

After the dinner Naruto thanked Mikoto for the dinner , and left , forbidding everyone a goodbye. He went to his apartment, took a shower and slipped under the covers.

"I don't know what to think anymore... Sasuke." Naruto sighed and went to sleep.


	6. Doubting

Chapter Six

Naruto groaned as he hit the alarm clock, he groggily got up, sighing , he made his way to the bathroom. 'Another day' he thought. Naruto was about to turn the hot water on for a hot relaxing bath in the morning but his reflection was reflected on the bathroom's mirror , he stared at himself for a few moments before turning the hot water off 'I'm not taking a shower today , I took one yesterday anyway's' Naruto shrugged and left the bathroom again,sighing. The reason behind that was because Naruto hated seeing his reflection on any mirror , he didn't like staring at his soulless blue eyes or his small bruised body,it just pained him to see himself that weak, but at times the blond did stare at himself on the mirror , only when he was very depressed. Naruto didn't even understand the reason behind his own actions.

The whiskered teen got dressed and exited his apartment. After fifteen minutes Naruto made his way to school . It was quite for some odd reason , he was sure he wasn't late or early,Naruto didn't feel right about this , the last time his school was this quite students beat the hell out of him , he didn't want that to happen again, so he walked quickly and made his way to the classroom. The small male sighed in relief, as he sat down in his seat.

The rest of the day went alright and soon the bell rang at the last period alerting students that they can all head home. Sasuke gathered his belongings and ignored all the squealing girls that tried to ask him out for a date , it was a daily routine that Sasuke had to go through , those girls would ask him out ,then get rejected, it was annoying but he went through it everyday.

The black haired male stood outside the school gates , waiting for Naruto. He stood there for about twenty minutes until He let out a frustrated sigh and went back , he searched in different classes ,bathrooms and the halls , but there was no sign of Naruto. Sasuke thought about checking the lockers assuming that Naruto was still there , looking for a book , or maybe a lost item .

While Sasuke was on his way to the lockers , he heard groaning and the sound of punching the closer he got to his destination , he thought it was best to hide and peek to see what was going on.

What Sasuke saw took away his breath , his eyes widen in a panic and in fear , at the sight he just saw. Three very tall students were punching Naruto senseless in his gut .Punches and kicks were delivered to his face and small body. Even when the poor blond fell on the ground they wouldn't stop kicking him. Blood was now dripping from Naruto's mouth , his clothes were ripped and his face was bruised. He tried getting up but it was no use , the harder he tried the harder he fell , his small body couldn't take all this damage. Sasuke panicked even more , in all his years he never seen someone beaten up that badly,he didn't even know how he was still alive. Sasuke was very confused, should he help him,or just leave him like that? But his eyes harden as he remembered Naruto's confession to him , he thought they were best friends , in all of his life he never made a friend like Naruto but he felt that Naruto betrayed his trust, by actually falling in love with him. I could forgive him...Sasuke thought.

The students picked Naruto up by his collar and threw him on the ground as if he was some toy, they soon left smirking in victory , like they were going to be rewarded with a trophy for beating up a pitiful student. Naruto used all his strength he had to sit up , but as soon as he done that , he began coughing blood. Sasuke leaned up against the wall , panting and without any thinking he ran away, he ran as fast as could, he didn't even know where he was going , all he wanted was just to got out of there. The Uchiha finally stopped, he panted heavily,while placing his hands on his knees for support .He screwed up, he knew it, what kind of person will leave their friend like that? Even if Naruto wasn't his friend anymore , he still was a person , and Sasuke just left him there.

Fear.

That's what it was , Fear. He was afraid that by helping him , things may go bad for him. If his father knew that he was helping someone gay , he'd consider himself dead. Maybe his mother will accept Naruto? She always had a soft spot for him, and Itachi was the one that told Sasuke to stop with all this hate , so why was he still afraid? He never cared for what his father thought , so why care now? The Uchiha was a trainwreck ,He didn't even understand himself anymore. Why couldn't things just go back like they were ,before Naruto confessed? When they were good friends, when they teased each-other and when they fought about stupid stuff. Those were the good days , but everything had changed.

Sasuke sighed went back to the school gates, to take his school bag that he dropped earlier. He walked slowly ,glancing back , thinking that Naruto may show up behind him. He gave up on that thought and kept walking silently to his house.

As soon as he made it his mother greeted him ,Sasuke barley greeted back and went to his room avoiding all the questions his mom asked him . He placed his bag down and went for a shower shortly after. The Uchiha slid under the covers , trying to got to sleep. it was four in the afternoon but he didn't care , he was tried and needed sleep.

Sasuke kept tossing and turning trying to sleep at least for half an hour , but nothing worked ,his body was tired but his soul was busy thinking about Naruto. He hated to admit that he couldn't sleep cause of him. Sasuke stared at the clock for a long time , expecting Naruto to show up for tutoring , but an image of Naruto getting beaten up flashed before his eyes , he tried to forget that horrible scene , but it replayed through his mind like a video.

A video that never stopped.

Sasuke soon thought the best idea right now was to get up and stay away from his bed. He knew that he would just think again, so it wasn't worth trying to go to bed again. The black haired male , decided to study , to get his mind off Naruto and that's what he did , he stayed studying for hours straight without taking a break .

He soon found it hard to open his eyes , everything was starting to get blurry , and he couldn't focus on the book anymore. Then's when everything went black.

~Next Day~

Sasuke woke up on the desk he was studying on the previous night , with drool slightly dripping from his mouth, he groaned and sat up while wiping the drool with the back of his hand . His back felt terrible , sleeping on his desk wasn't a good idea after all. Sasuke stretched his hands up in the air with another groan escaping his mouth. He couldn't believe that he spent the entire night sleeping on his desk , he wouldn't be surprised if he had back problems now , but it was only one night , nothing will go wrong,right?

The Uchiha glanced at his clock ,it was six in the morning , he still had time to get ready for school , so Sasuke laid down on his bed with his hands behind his head. Naruto's image soon popped into his head , he groaned and turned to his side , to try to forget about Naruto , but he again remembered him. He sighed, getting up,and made his way to the bathroom . The onyx eyed male went with his daily routine and soon got ready for school , it was still seven Am but it wouldn't matter if he made it a little earlier today.

Sasuke made it to school , and sat on his seat , today was somewhat peaceful , there weren't any fangirls , which made Sasuke's day ten times better , but he slightly frowned when he remembered what happened yesterday. He tried to erase Naruto from his thoughts , but it just wouldn't happen , no matter how much he tried nothing worked , Naruto never left his mind . Sasuke was confused , he thought he hated Naruto , but it seemed he was only confused nothing more and nothing less , maybe it wasn't hate , but it was obvious it wasn't , if Sasuke actually did hate Naruto he wouldn't give two fucks about him , so he actually did care , he just needed time alone , to help sort his thoughts out . But Sasuke wasn't ever going to get that 'time alone' since his exams were going to start soon , he'd be ten times busier than the usual.

Sasuke sighed , resting his head on his palm. Things weren't going easy for him , family problems , exams and Naruto just weren't a good did his problems have to pile up at one time?

Maybe today just wasn't going alright,Correction: this whole year didn't seem to go alright.


	7. Help

Chapter Seven

Sasuke sat in his seat , sighing. Another boring day in school , just like always, things never changed in school. Sasuke glanced at Naruto's seat , but it was empty, what hurt him more , that no even payed attention to it.

"Did you hear, that the faggot finally dropped out of school?" Sasuke heard one of the students say.

"You mean Uzuamki Naruto?" The other said.

"Yeah, I've heard that he finally put enough with all the bullying and other shit here."

"Finally! I thought that he'd never drop out."

"Faggots don't belong here." He laughed.

Sasuke suddenly felt anger boiling inside him , he clenched his fists very hard until they became yellow from the lack of blood. The angry Uchiha got up and held the students collar , everyone went quite , they knew better than to mess with The Uchiha at this state . Sasuke held the student's collar , his eye's were burning from all the anger. If looks could kill , the student would be dead by now.

"Who told you about him dropping out of school?!" Sasuke said trying his best not to punch the guy. The student tried his best to pull away from Sasuke's grasp but it was to strong.

"I-I just heard about it!" Sasuke slammed his shirt on the wall harshly.

"Who told you?!" Sasuke said losing his patients.

"T-They're just rumors." The Uchiha harshly let go of the student's collar , forcing him to fall down.

Everyone was horrified ,they never in their life seen Sasuke so mad before . The female student's held their books tightly against their chest , trying to calm their selves down, while the males just stood there , not muttering a word. Sasuke barged out of the room , still angry.

He went outside,trying to calm himself down. The onyx-eyed male panted and lent against the wall , in hope to calm down. Did Naruto really drop out of school? Did he really give up? Wait,wait,why was Sasuke worried in the first place? Wasn't he the one that wanted Naruto to leave so bad? Sasuke cared , and he just admitted to himself ,it might take years before he admits it to his brother, yes, he was that stubborn.

After the bell rang Sasuke swung his bag over his shoulder and left the school quietly . There were no fangirls today. After Sasuke's rage , they were smart enough to leave him alone , before he rages on them too.

-After School-

Sasuke sat in his room studying quietly , until a knock on his bedroom door was heard.

"What?" Sasuke said ,clearly annoyed.

"Mr Uchiha , someone wants to see you and he's waiting outside."The maid said and Sasuke sighed.

"Tell them I'll be there in a minute." The maid nodded and left his room.

Sasuke got up and slowly walked to the front door. He opened the door without looking at the person.

"What?" He said , clearly annoyed that someone would disturb while he's studying.

"H-Hello Sasuke!" Sasuke recognized that voice anywhere. It couldn't be him!

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke said surprised. The Uchiha glanced at Naruto that had a bruised cheek and swollen eye. Before he wanted to ask him how he got that(Which he clearly knew how) Naruto tried dodging his question quickly, and succeeded.

"Sasuke! I'm really sorry for not attending the tutoring sessions! I-I had to work two shifts! Please forgive me!" The blond slightly bowed, showing his apologies.

"Come in" Sasuke muttered , walking inside. Naruto lifted his head up and quickly walked inside. He followed Sasuke quietly to his room , not muttering a word.

Sasuke felt relived , he thought that Naruto actually dropped out of school , and never came back , he thought that he finally put up with everything and decided to leave for the best . Sasuke tried to dig his happy feelings , he wanted to feel happy that Naruto was here , but at the same time , he didn't.

Since The Blond didn't attend the past two tutoring sessions , Sasuke tutored him for hours straight,without rest , if his tutoring lessons were late , the principle would get angry and of course punish him. So he tried his best to not let that happen.

"Sasuke, I-I need to use the bathroom.." Naruto said, shyly.

"Fine, don't take to much time, we're late and we need to keep going." Naruto nodded and exited the bedroom.

The Uzumaki made his way to the bathroom , he washed his hands once he was done , but when he wanted to leave , he saw his reflection in the mirror , reflecting his upper body. Naruto eye's saddened a bit , he saw his bruised face and swollen eye , he tried looking away, but he couldn't . He was pathetic, most boys of his age were tall , cute , straight and had all the girls , while he was short , gay , hated , rejected and bullied. This never would've happened if he was straight , why couldn't he be straight , just like the others? If he was , he would be loved and accepted be everyone , he would never been bullied or started cutting. He would've been happy with his life. Happy... That's the only thing that he wanted right now , happiness was the key to be accepted and loved by everyone else . But what if he was happy being gay? Why didn't people accept him?

As Naruto was deep in his thoughts , he felt hot tears rolling down his cheek, he tried wiping them with the back of his palm , but it didn't work , his tears were already like a water fall , shortly after he began sobbing quietly in-front of the mirror .The more he wiped his tears , the more fresh hot tears replaced them .All he wanted was happiness why couldn't anyone accept him for who he was? Gender doesn't matter , love is love, right? But no , almost every awful thing has happened to him , people hurt him mentally and physically . Enough was enough. Naruto tried calming down , and wiped his tears for the one hundredth time , Sasuke would be angry if he was late , so he washed his eyes, that were red and puffy . Sasuke wouldn't ask him anyway, so why bother? Naruto finally exited the bathroom deep in thought , things were very hard , these days, no one supported him , The Uchiha once was his support , but now he- **BOOM!**

Naruto fell on his back and hurt his head badly , his body couldn't take all this damage after the beating he received a few days ago. He groaned placing his hand on his head , trying to reduce the pain ,while getting up , he saw a tall figure . Sasuke? No, it wasn't him , he had black hair and black sharp eyes, it was Itachi Uchiha , Sasuke's older sibling. After Naruto realized it was him he got up quickly and bowed,to showing his apologies.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you , Itachi!" Naruto closed his eyes , thinking that Itachi will scold him. But he paid no attention to Naruto's apology instead . He glanced at his small body that was most likely to be bruised , his neck was a color of a light purple , while his eyes were red and puffy. Naruto lifted his head up, kind of confused that he didn't get mad.

Itachi quickly , grabbed Naruto's hand , sliding his sleeve to show all his scars on his wrist. Itachi's eyes widened at all the scars that were on Naruto's wrist.

"Naruto..." Itachi whispered to himself , but Naruto barely heard him.

"I-Itachi,please don't tell anyone about this! I swear, I'll do anything but just-" Itachi cut Naruto off by grabbing his hand and quickly leading him to a room ,forgetting to completely shut the door behind him. Itachi took a chair and told Naruto to sit on it , the blond obeyed and sat down .

"Naruto,How'd you get those scars?" Itachi asked, sternly.

"I-.. it was an accident!" Naruto said trying not to panic .

"Take off your shirt."

"W-What?!" Naruto's cheeks heated up , at his request.

"You heard me, take off your shirt." The Uchiha crossed his arms over his chest, sighing.

"B-But ,Itachi, I can't do that." Naruto said flustered.

"If you don't take it off , I will." Naruto felt his whole body heat up, why did Itachi want to see him shirtless? And why now? Naruto panicked inside , and decided to take off his shirt , before Itachi did it himself. The Uchiha tried not to gasp at the sight he just saw, his widen and felt pity for the blond. There were bruises all over his chest starting from his neck to his stomach , deep scars were on his wrists and there were fresh burn marks all over his back. Naruto tried covering his body by hugging himself . He didn't want anyone seeing him this weak , he didn't want anyone to see how badly people beat him up and how he self-harms.

The Uchiha frowned at the sight he just saw , then everything he heard about Naruto was true , the bulling and self-harm were true, that means everything else is also true . How much did Naruto go through everyday? How much does he suffer everyday? People never treated him as a person , which broke Itachi's heart . He knew that he'd been bullied , but he never knew it was that bad, all the bruises , scars and burn marks . Looked to pain him, and Itachi figured that they're all fresh . Then how and why did he come if he was in state like this? People in his state would surly be put in hospitable for weeks , but Naruto was here , and the Uchiha didn't even know how.

"How did you get all these bruises?" Itachi asked , more like whispered. But Naruto didn't respond he just lowered his head and hugged himself even tighter, not caring if it hurts. Itachi felt his heart sink inside , he knew if he pressured Naruto to answer his question he'll start crying, and that's the last thing he wanted right now.

"Naruto,take off your jeans." Itachi said, in calm tone.

"W-What?!" Itachi sighed while Naruto's cheeks were red just like a bright red cherry.

"Naruto you heard me, take off your jeans." Naruto shook his head."N-No!" he said panicking.

"Naruto, you're acting like I'm about to rape you, just take off the God damn jeans." The Uchiha said, loosing his patients. The blond nodded shyly he didn't want the Uchiha getting mad at him so took off his pants , showing his white boxers. Itachi felt his heart sink once again, at this awful sight . There were bruises all over his legs , it seemed that bully's targeted his legs and his stomach, in order to make him feel more pain. But his legs looked so delicate ,so easily damaged.

"Naruto, I know this is going to be hard for you, but who did this?" Naruto pulled his knees to his chest and hugged himself, again not responding.

~With Sasuke~

Sasuke finally got up , wanting to find Naruto. He was late and Sasuke had a lot of tutoring to do . He searched the bathrooms but he wasn't there , he soon heard some people speaking in low tones that he couldn't make of . The young Uchiha kept walking until the voices were clearer , he finally stopped at a random guestroom . Sasuke was going to knock, until he heard his brother's voice, it looked like it he wasn't alone , he was sure he was speaking to someone .Since Itachi didn't completely shut the door , Sasuke peeped

"Naruto,I just want to help."

"They did that to me," Itachi didn't respond, waiting for him to finish.

"At school, almost everyone hates me...they beat me up almost everyday, wanting me to die..the teachers don't give two damns about me..either."

"Then why didn't you tell anyone?!" Itachi said , obviously angered.

"They'd call me an attention whore, and hate me even more , and they already think I'm just a fake , they just want me to die..."

"Then why haven't you went to the hospital yet?" Itachi said, changing the subject , since he knew Naruto was about to cry. But he made just made it worse.

"I...I have...but" Naruto lowered his head in verge of tears, " The doctors somehow found out , that I'm gay...they...they said that...I'm a disease myself and I should die.." Naruto finished with tears rolling down his cheek . He tried wiping his tears with his hands but all his face was wet , he bit his lip to try not to sob.

"Naruto,how are you putting up with all of this?" Itachi said , in a sad tone. Naruto gave Itachi a closed eyed smile and said: "Isn't it obvious? It's for Sasuke."

Naruto then felt two warm strong arms rap around him, bringing him to a tight hug. The blond looked up to see Itachi hugging him, with his eyes closed. Naruto gasped a bit, no one has ever hugged him before, he was sure that this was his first hug.

The blue eyed male , clinged onto Itachi's chest , trying his hardest not to cry.

"Naruto, just let it go..." Itachi whispered.

"Huh? I-I.." Without Naruto knowing a sob escaped his mouth, he sobbed onto Itachi's chest. The blond sobbed like he never sobbed before. Tears were rushing down his face , just like a waterfall , and Itachi didn't mind getting his shirt wet, he just hugged the teen Uchiha swore he never seen anyone cry like Naruto before , Naruto cried all his heart and soul out , it looked like he was crying all his pain out . Itachi couldn't take all of this , tears escaped his eyes too , and fell on Naruto's head. He didn't want to cry with Naruto, he wanted to be with him and help him to try to get better . So he tried his best not to cry and hugged the teen in a warm way, just like how a mother holds her child, all warm and welcoming.

Sasuke started panting. Has Naruto been through all that?! The young Uchiha leaned against the wall panting heavily. ' no , this isn't happening " Sasuke thought to himself , he knew that Itachi only helps people that need all the help they can get , and he helped Naruto . So Naruto actually been through all that? What kind of life is he living? He never knew he made Naruto's life so much worse than it already was. He felt so guilty , he wished that never rejected Naruto like that, and instead helped him. Sasuke heard footsteps making their way to the door, he got up and quickly made his way to his bedroom.

He sat down , feeling guilt slowly swallowing him.


	8. Guilt

Chapter eight

 _Sasuke started panting. Has Naruto been through all that?! The young Uchiha leaned against the wall panting heavily. ' no , this isn't happening " Sasuke thought to himself , he knew that Itachi only helps people that need all the help they can get , and he helped Naruto . So Naruto actually been through all that? What kind of life is he living? He never knew he made Naruto's life so much worse than it already was. He felt so guilty , he wished that never rejected Naruto like that, and instead helped him. Sasuke heard footsteps making their way to the door, he got up and quickly made his way to his bedroom._

He sat down , feeling guilt slowly swallowing him.

 **Sasuke's P.O.V**

I'm a monster, that's what I am . Hurting someone , and hating on them , when they did nothing to deserve this , was sinful. Why was I so blind? Why didn't I just help him when he was hurt? Instead I did the total opposite of helping him , I destroyed him . I didn't know what to do when I saw those awful bruises , burns and cuts on his dulcet and fragile body .

I'm a coward.

I kept running away from the truth , I tried convincing myself that he was a fake , trying to earn attention from people surrounding him . Little did I know that I made the biggest mistake of my life , thinking that he was an attention whore. He was my friend , falling in love wasn't something bad , I should've told him that I don't feel the same way , but I don't know what stopped me , I rejected him coldly and been ignoring him for weeks , and now I regret doing that.

It seems that Naruto actually did have a hard life , and I just made it ten times worse. I was supposed accept him , and treat him better, but I didn't . I don't know what to do anymore , should I try to be his friend or just leave everything like it is?  
But... I don't want him to go through this anymore , I ..I want to help him , and start all over; a fresh start . That's what I want , a new fresh start , with Naruto , maybe he'll forgive me , but then again , I did so many terrible things to him; I ignored him , hated him , called him ugly names , and I hurt him , emotionally and physically. I don't know if he had the heart to forgive someone like me , I just hope he will ...I really do.

 **Normal P.O.V**

Naruto felt somewhat...happy. Someone actually cared and listened. But why did he care? Itachi cared for Naruto he even cried with him , as if he was the one going through all that pain himself.

Naruto smiled as he was on his way to school , for the first time in weeks , he actually felt happy ,and began humming on the way . Maybe things were actually going to change for the better , with Itachi on Naruto's side , he felt better , happier . Of course not all his pain was erased , it was just as Naruto lost his bad memories with the Uchiha on his side . He wished that this wasn't just a bad dream , where he'll wake up , with everything going back to normal . He truly wished from the bottom of his heart , that everything will eventually change for the better , all he needed was more faith, and made sure that , people will accept him. He just wanted Sasuke accept him , he didn't want him , to hate him , all he truly wished was to stay beside Sasuke's side , accepted.

The Uzumaki finally made his way into school , he pressed his books tightly against his chest and hung his head down , not wanting to make eye contact with anyone , scared that they'll only make fun of him. Again.

As Naruto was walking ,with eyes glued to the ground , he felt a strong force which resulted in him falling down ,he stumbled backwards ,with books flying away and scattering across the hallways , Naruto winced at the sight of his flying books , while he was focused on getting up, he again, felt another force pushing him and fell harder on the ground . His mind went blank , he had no idea what was going on , and what made him fall like that.

Laughs filled the hallway , every student stopped and made fun of the blond that was on the ground .  
Naruto finally lifted his head up and sat up , placing his hand on his head. He finally managed to see who pushed him, and it was none other than; Sakura Haruno .

Sakura always did hate Naruto , for being so close to Sasuke , she tried years trying to get the Uchiha to notice her , but it all ended up in a huge fail. She saw how Naruto had been hanging out with Sasuke and how easy he got his attention, before everyone knew he was gay. That's why she ended up despising him , and saw it as a chance when she found out that Naruto was a homosexual .

The Haruno told everyone that , Naruto , was just a disgusting fag. She made everyone hate him more than they already did , that's when the bullying started , of course ,The Blond already had been bullied but the pain increased as more tougher , stronger guys hurt him. They started torching him , as if they really wanted him to die that bad.

"Why'd you show up?" Sakura asked , glaring at him. Naruto didn't respond , knowing that whatever he used will be used against him , as if this was some court.

"Didn't you hear me? Or are you deaf now?" She chuckled, he again didn't respond, but ignored her and got up, to pick up his books. Sakura was furious that he'd actually ignore her.

"Hey,listen I'm talking to you!" She spat , The Uzumaki picked up his books and glanced at her. "What do you want?" he asked, calmly, with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Isn't it time, you dropped out of school? We're already sick and tired of seeing your ugly face here."

"I can do what I want , and I don't want to drop out of school," Naruto answered.

"Why you little-" Just as Sakura was going to finish her sentence , a teacher appeared behind the confused , about all this mess "What's all this fuss about?" He asked. All the students , backed away making a space for the teacher .  
The teacher looked at Naruto and squinted , as if the more he stared at him , the more his eye's would burn , unfortunately, the teacher was a homophobe and found out that Naruto was a homosexual. It explained all the hate from the teacher directed at Naruto.

"Get out of here, you disgust me." Naruto gulped and hung his head down,while Sakura just smirked in victory and disappeared within the crowd .

Naruto already had a mood drop in the morning , he was hoping to keep his cheerful mood , but he knew that the other's would try to ruin it ,and unfortunately they succeeded. He sighed making his way to class. He avoided all the tries the students did wanting to make Naruto trip and fall, he also avoided all the crumbled papers, that they threw at really didn't treat him , like a human being , which made Naruto frown at that thought.

The blond spent his time in school just like always , ignoring the death glares everyone gave him, and everything the teacher was saying , maybe that was the main reason , why Naruto was failing in so many classes , his own teacher hated : his whole school hated him(Besides the principle) so how can they expect him to succeed in his exams, when his mind was clouded with these ugly thoughts of sadness? People just expect to much from him , he just was busy staying alive.

Naruto stood outside the school gates , after the bell rang , for about five minutes, waiting for Sasuke. Naruto breathed deeply , closing his eyes , he sighed , and peered around the corner, he was hoping for Sasuke to show up. Why was he taking that long? Just as The blond turned around , his head snapped to the right with a loud sound , a bright red hand mark was now on his cheek. Naruto blinked a couple of times before looking at the person,

"That'd teach you." Barked Sakura ,with an expression mixed with satisfaction and anger. Naruto looked at her , confused , placing his hand on his red cheek.

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked. Trying not to raise his voice, he was sick and tired of the way people treated him.

"There's completely nothing wrong with me, you're the one who's wrong." She squinted. "Liking another boy , and choosing Sasuke , is unforgivable."

"It's none of your business in who I like and dislike." Naruto spat. "It's my life, not yours."

"You're just a disgusting fag who dreams of sleeping with other men." Naruto hung his head down not responding , to her ugly comment.

"Just do us all a favor and drink some bleach, we'd all be happy." The blue eyed male lifted his head , to look at her.

"Again, it's my life not yours, you have no right to judge me and tell me what to do."

"I'm not the only one judging you , the whole world is , just be a good boy , and burn yourself, it'll make us all happy."  
" I don't care , I can live my life the way I want too, Sakura, you don't control me," Naruto looked away, not making eye contact with her. " Is bullying me supposed to make you feel any better?!" He asked, obviously angered.

She just scoffed and looked at him with an evil grin. "I'm just doing the world a favor, you're just a waste of space , we'd be happy if you'd kill yourself and made more space for us in this small world."

"Well guess what, that's not happening , I don't plan on dying soon enough."

"You'll see about that , I'm going to make sure, you-"

"Naruto?" Both heads turned around , facing a very confused Sasuke.

"Hi Sasuke!" Sakura chirped ,pretending nothing happened between her and Naruto. Sasuke just glanced at her for a brief moment before , walking off . Ignoring her , he motioned with his hand to Naruto to follow him. The black haired male walked away , with Naruto following behind , leaving a very furious Sakura. "I will make you pay." She muttered angrily to herself. "And you'll see soon enough."

Naruto thought this day couldn't get any worse, until he encountered Sakura , making him regret his thoughts .  
He sighed deeply rubbing his red cheek. Why was she so mean to him? He even lost count in how many times she told him to kill himself Maybe she was right, maybe he actually did-

"Why is your cheek red?" Sasuke asked, ripping Naruto from his thoughts .

"Huh? My cheek? ...It's fine, I just hurt myself earlier." Naruto lied . Sasuke of course knew that he lied, he always did lie when it came to his health.

"Tch, stop lying to me." Naruto looked up from the ground , staring at Sasuke's back, a bit confused at why Sasuke said something like that.

"I'm sorry.."

"You didn't answer my question , why is your cheek red?" Sasuke repeated his question , coming into a complete halt. The smaller male , stopped walking, almost bumping into Sasuke. He sighed in relief when he didn't, but a small part of him did .

"Sakura, slapped me." The Uchiha turned around facing Naruto , who hung his head down , trying not to make eye contact with him.

"Why?" Sasuke said , trying to sound angered.

"I don't know.." Naruto, lied once more. Sasuke sighed , running his fingers through his thick dark colored hair. He knew , he wouldn't get any answers out of Naruto , so he stopped trying , and glanced at Naruto , who's eye's were glued to the ground. Sasuke soon noticed something different in Naruto's eyes , he felt stupid for not noticing this until now , but his eyes looked different. They looked soulless , there wasn't a spark in them anymore , he remembered them sparkling every time he used to talk with him , when they were friends , but now that spark is gone , there was nothing but soulless blue eyes , they don't even glow like they used to. Why and when did this happen? Was it Sasuke's fault? Maybe it was , he is the reason he cut many times, that's when an arrow of guilt stroked Sasuke's heart . Gosh, why did things have to be so hard? Why couldn't he just apologize and get it over with?

He was scared.

Sasuke thought if he apologized, Naruto wouldn't forgive him , of course he wouldn't forgive him , he had done so many terrible things to him , that were completely unforgivable. But he really wanted to go back to being friends with Naruto, he wanted to help him ,and protect him from all those haters. He didn't want him hurt again.

Maybe he'd do that, if it wasn't for his damn pride. But his pride couldn't get in the way between him and Naruto , he wanted to fix things , things that he broken himself.


	9. The Wrong Turn

Chapter Nine

Sasuke sighed as he ran his hand through his dark thick hair,when was class going to end? It was getting so dark haired male rested his head on his palm,glancing at Naruto who was writing down his notes. Sasuke soon began thinking of a proper way to apologies to Naruto,he wanted to apologies today, after the tutoring session was over. He just had to do it today, he couldn't take all this guilt anymore.

Sasuke soon face-palmed as he realized, he wasn't writing down his notes like the rest of his classmates, he uttered a sigh,and decided to Just as he began writing,the bell rang,Sasuke shrugged and got up. Placing all of his belongings in his bag. He had four more lessons to go,and how on earth was he going to finish his day?

He just spent the rest of the day,with a mind clouded with thoughts, he ignored the teacher's lectures and proceeded thinking of a way to apologies. Maybe he could do it straight foreword? But that'd be to weird,he could tell Naruto that he needed to talk to him?But that sounded weird also or maybe he could just explain how wrong he was,and then apologies,that seemed like a good idea, but what if it went wrong? What if The Blond wouldn't forgive him? He clearly didn't want that to happen , he would never forgive himself , if it came to that.

A scene of Naruto hugging himself , flashed in Sasuke's mind, he slightly winced , placing his head between his surly didn't want to live in this guilt forever. Only if he wasn't so blind from the start ,then none of this would've happened.

Time flew by and the bell soon rang,alerting the students that they finally can head back home, "Finally." Sasuke muttered to himself, as he swung his bag behind his back . He exited the classroom, but it took him awhile to make it to the school gates , hence fangirls were swarming all around him.

Sasuke looked foreword, to see Naruto , leaning against a wall,with arms crossed over his chest,staring at the ground. He seemed deep in thought , he didn't even notice Sasuke's presence until he called his name.  
Naruto was soon ripped from his thoughts , and was startled a bit, he accidentally made eye contact with Sasuke for a brief moment , but cut it off, by looking at the ground, again.

"S-Sorry." Naruto whispered ever so lowly,but The Uchiha manged to hear it once again Sasuke felt an arrow of guilt strike his heart,he just made Naruto apologies for making eye contact with him. Sasuke felt that whenever he was with The Uzumaki, he'd make him feel like trash,and he didn't want that to happen, making him sad wasn't what Sasuke wanted , at least he didn't want that to happen, but he already guessed it was to late,he did make him feel like trash,maybe even lower than trash.

After twenty minutes of walking both of the teens finally made it,to the Uchiha mansion. They both greeted everyone from the Uchiha family , and made their way to Sasuke's room. Everything went like always,Sasuke teaching Naruto,basic rules of the subject he was teaching him,while trying not to scold him for being so clueless .

After an hour, Naruto excused himself and left to use the bathroom. Sasuke checked his watch,while cursing under his breath, the session was about to be over in a few minutes , and that meant he had to apologies to Naruto in a few more minutes ,too.

Naruto entered the room, sitting down, with a confused expression that was washed upon his face, as he saw Sasuke whom was staring at his watch,not noticing his presence, Naruto had to clear his throat, in order to get his attention, and he succeeded.

"Oh,you're back" Sasuke sighed , Naruto frowned to himself , thinking that the Uchiha,hates his presence .

" Naruto..." The blond,looked at Sasuke,quite curiously , he never called his name, only if he needed too, so why was he calling him now?

"Yes,Sasuke?" Naruto said,feeling his heart,drop.

"There's something,I've been meaning to tell you," Sasuke bit his lip,after he finished his sentence,with eyebrows furrowed,as if he was in some deep stress.

"Why don't you look at me?" Sasuke asked,glancing at Naruto,who stood their,surprised,at his sudden,but deep question.

"Aren't you the one who told me,not too?" Naruto said,lowering his head,at the memory,of that terrible day.

 _"If I see you looking at me again, I won't hesitate to put you in jail!"_  
Everything came back to the memories, he'd tried to forget, came back to him in a flash.

Sasuke gasped,staring at the small figure that was in-front of him. He did tell him that, how can he be so stupid? 'He' was the one who told Naruto,to not make eye-contact with him ever again,but why did Naruto still remember? The only time,the blond glanced at his black orbs, were today, and on accident.

The Uchiha felt his heart drop 180 degrees ,below the ground.  
'Now's the chance' Sasuke thought.

"Look,Naruto,I know what I've done to you is,something unforgivable," Sasuke sighed. " I did horrible things to you,when you were my closest friend, I neglected you,hurt you,rejected you and made you think about suicide many times...what I'm trying to say is...I'm sorry."

Naruto stood their stunned, he waited for Sasuke to say those words for so long, but why wasn't Naruto happy? Instead of, feeling happiness, he felt somewhat...angry.

The blue-eyed male, just wanted to run away, he wanted to escape all this pain, that Sasuke caused him. Sasuke was the cause of everything painful , and apologizing, wasn't going to do it, even though, Naruto would've forgiven him a few days ago, but Itachi made him realize he was a person, and he had every right to live, just like any-other human being. A simple 'sorry' just wasn't going to do it.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Naruto asked,trying not to cry nor yell at the other male.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, clearly confused.

"I'm a human too, Sasuke!" Naruto rose his head, to finally make eye contact with the Uchiha. "You...You hurt me, rejected me, bullied me, and hated me! I've been through hell because of you, you made my life hard then it already was!"

"Naruto! I know what I done was wrong, but I'm sorry! I truly regret what I've done to you!"

"Do you have any idea how it is to come back from school with a bruised body almost every single day?" Naruto felt a hot tear roll down his cheek. "I-It was hard, really hard, Sasuke..."

"Naruto..."

"Even though, I really want to forgive you, but I can't...all this pain, can't simply be erased" Sasuke looked at Naruto, feeling guilty , of how he treated him.

"I...I really want to forget everything that happened, I just want things to go back like how they used to be..." Naruto said, with tears rushing down his bruised cheek,

"Naruto, I can't live with all this guilt anymore,all I'm asking you, is too, forgive and forget," The Uchiha, furrowed his eyebrows in anger, but he soon realized he rose his voice, and sighed, placing his hand on his forehead.

"I do want to forgive you... I do want to forget, but I can't..you've hurt me, and caused me deep wounds in my heart, I can't just forget everything, like it never happened." Naruto, looked away frowning, drying his tears. He really did want to forgive The Uchiha, but it wasn't easy, like he had imagined.

"How about you start by looking at me again? Look into my eyes Naruto, forget what I said," Naruto tried to hiding the blush, that was creeping on his cheeks, it wasn't the right moment, he didn't want Sasuke thinking of him as a fag, Like he always said, in the past.

Naruto slowly lifted his head, gulping the big lump in his throat, he had a dust of pink on his cheeks , he soon made eye-contact with Sasuke, blue orbs locked with black orbs, Naruto finally got to look at those beautiful eyes again, those eyes he missed so much.

"Can you try now? Can you forget now?" Sasuke asked.

"I...I don't know,Sasuke" Sasuke just sighed, looking away, with an annoyed expression written on his face.

"I'm sorry.."

"Don't apologies, it's isn't your fault." Naruto , glanced at Sasuke before asking:

"D-Do you still think,I'm disgusting for liking another boy...?" Naruto hesitatingly, asked,

"Naruto,I didn't mean what I said back there, I just... I thought you're my friend,you're the first person, I've ever opened up,too, and...when you said you loved me, I felt betrayed, and I was confused, I ignored my heart and did something I really regret now, something I wish I haven't done...I hurt you"

"Do you really feel that guilty?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke nodded.

"It's cause, I saw everything,"

"Saw everything? What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"You and Itachi.." Sasuke trailed off.

"Y-You heard everything?" Naruto said, taken a back, at Sasuke's words, he never knew, that Sasuke would actually over hear them. The tall male, just nodded, in approval.

The Uchiha, ran his hand through his thick silky hair,muttering cruses under his breath. Things, didn't go like he had planned, but at least, he got this guilt off his chest, even if Naruto haven't fully forgiven him yet, things seemed to look better.

"The tutoring session is over," Sasuke,picked up his books from the table,

"Oh yeah, sorry," Naruto apologized once more. But Sasuke just hated how much he apologized, it just made him feel more guilty, The Uzumaki always had apologized over everything, making seem it was his fault, when it clearly wasn't,

Naruto gathered all his belongings and placed them in his small bag,he held his bag with both of his hands and exited the young Uchiha's room,uttering a 'goodbye' .

Sasuke closed his door, and fell on his bed, closing his eyes. 'When were things going to get better?" Sasuke thought. Things were getting complicated between him and Naruto, he just wanted to go back to being friends again.

He just hoped he was doing the right thing.


	10. Hope

Chapter Ten

Naruto threw his bag, and entered his apartment, with a frown written on his face. Today yet again, was a difficult day; getting called ugly names by other people everyday is tiring, not only was he hurt physically, but his heart also ached from all this pain. Lucky the Uzumaki had Itachi by his side, at least he cared. His heart just fluttered in joy at the thought of someone else caring. Caring was something beautiful, it meant that you actually loved the person enough, to go and get involved in all their problems, not caring if you get hurt in the process.

The teen sighed, as he flopped onto the couch, he closed his eyes, sighing slightly, once again. The reason Naruto was tired , was because he actually worked two shifts on weekends, and one shift on school days, and since it was Friday, he had to get ready for work.

Just as Naruto was going to get up, a sound of a doorbell echoing through his apartment, could be heard, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and walked to the door. The teen, placed his hand on the doorknob slowly opening it. He tried to hold back a gasp, of surprise as he saw the person in-front of him, a tall figure stood there, holding what seemed like grocery bags?

"I-Itachi?" Naruto stuttered, in surprise, feeling his heart beat rise. Itachi stood there for a few seconds and gave him a closed eyed smiled, before looking at the blond.

"Are we going to stand here all day?" Itachi, held back a laugh, at Naruto's reaction.

"S-Sorry! Come in!" Naruto swung the door wider, and Itachi stepped in.

Itachi eyed the blond's apartment, it had nothing more than a couch, and a lamp in the living room, and other decent items in the rest of the small apartment, but everything was so simple. Simple for a teenage boy, most boys had their own room, with a flat screen TV, and all kinds of video games, while Naruto, had nothing more then a couch and a rug.

The Uchiha, walked into Naruto's kitchen, placing all his grocery bags, onto the counter. Naruto again raised an eyebrow in curiosity and glanced at Itachi,

"Um, are those for me?" He asked, pointing to himself. Itachi, smiled and nodded before he answered;

"Ah, yes they are, I was in the market a few moments ago, so I decided to drop off, and get you these groceries,"

Naruto felt his lips being craved into a smile, he never felt so happy before, he even pinched himself twice to make sure he wasn't in some kind of dream, and just for his luck, he wasn't, all of this was real.

"Thank you, Itachi," Naruto smiled genially at Itachi,

Itachi, felt warmth in the Uzumaki's smile, it wasn't a forced smile, no, it was a genuine smile, just as if he was really happy at the moment. 'You should smile more, Naruto' Itachi thought, happiness was a good look on the boy, his smile made his face glow with excitement and beauty. Just what he really needed.

Happiness, is something beautiful.

"Would you like to drink anything?" Naruto asked, heading to the living room, gesturing for Itachi to follow him.

"Water would do," Itachi said, sitting down. Naruto nodded, and brung him a glass of water, handing it to him. He sat beside the Uchiha, with a small smile on his lips.

"So Itachi, what brings you here?" He asked. The Blond really didn't want things to be awkward between them, so he thought asking him why he visited him, would break the thick tension in the air.

"Well, I wanted to check on you, I wanted to see how were you doing," Itachi again smiled at Naruto, which made Naruto's heart beat like crazy. Itachi Uchiha, wanted to check on him? This must be a dream, yes maybe this was a dream, Naruto again pinched his arm, and let out a small 'squeak' while he was at the process . It was just to good to be true.

"Are you okay?' Itachi asked, worriedly at the blonds weird actions.

"I-I'm fine!" Naruto, laughed nervously, rubbing his arm, that he pinched a few moments ago. "It's just that, I'm glad that you thought about me,"

Itachi, ruffled Naruto's hair, causing a faint blush of pink to appear on the whiskered teens cheek.  
"Of course, I'd think about you, you're also like my younger brother," The Uchiha said, making Naruto's eyes widen, glowing with hope and happiness at the same time. "Thank you, Itachi," Naruto manged to mutter.

"Naruto, are you going out soon?" Itachi asked, and Naruto nodded.

"Mm, I gotta leave for work in twenty more minutes,"

Itachi mentally sighed, he knew the blond had to work, to eat, but it just pained to think that a seventeen year-old would actually work to live. What did he even do to deserve all of this?

"You work on a Friday?"

"Yeah, I try to juggle my time, for two jobs," Naruto said.

Itachi sighed and leaned back on the couch, with a frown, clearly written on his face. He crossed his hands over his chest, and glanced at Naruto.

"And, how do you do that when you have school?" The Uchiha asked.

"One shift on school days, two shifts on weekends," Naruto shrugged, like it was a normal thing, but Itachi was actually angry and if it wasn't for his practice of hiding his serious emotions he would've popped like a balloon which led to Naruto not knowing that Itachi was like a volcano that was going to interrupt any moment now.

"Is that the reason you've been failing most of your classes then?" Naruto rubbed his arm, and soon nodded.

"Where do you work?" Itachi asked again.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you,"

Itachi sighed, and looked at Naruto, slowly getting closer to him, their faces only inches apart. Naruto was shocked, he felt his heart beating rapidly, while his face became a color of crimson red. The whiskered teen stared at the onyx orbs, while the Uchiha returned the stare, as a glare. They were exactly like Sasuke's, no difference at all, they were the same pair of eyes, well since they were brothers they genetically were the same.

"Iworkataresturantdownthestreet" Naruto said, extremely fast, from the pressure Itachi was putting him in. The blond hoped the Uchiha would back away, and for his luck, that's what he did.

"You work at restaurant from the down the street?" Itachi said, a bit confused, and Naruto nodded. "How about your second shift?" Naruto shook his head in decline. Man, Naruto was stubborn as hell, Itachi knew he wouldn't get any answers out of him, so he suggested guessing would make things seem easier.

"You work in a cafe," Itachi said, and Naruto looked at Itachi with a face of shock. Naruto had to admit that Itachi was a genius.

"How did you know?" Naruto slightly pouted in disappointment.

"Well, I could recognize that sunshine hair anywhere." Itachi said, leaning back into the couch.

"That's not fair," Naruto mumbled placing his head between his hands for support while Itachi smiled at Naruto's cute actions, laughing a bit.

"What? What's so funny?" Naruto said confused.

"No, no, it's nothing," Itachi said, getting up while ruffling Naruto's bright colored hair once again.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Itachi. He really knew how to treat the blond right.

"I've got to go now, I might come in a another day," Itachi said making Naruto get up as well, following him to the door.

"I'll be glad, if you did." Naruto smiled. Itachi uttered a 'goodbye' while Naruto waved in return. He closed the door and leaned on the door, slowly sliding down on the floor. The Blond smiled to himself, he's never felt happy in forever, he just loved this feeling. The feeling of happiness. Itachi was soon going to be that source of happiness for him.

Itachi decided to walk back home, instead of taking a car back. He felt it more refreshing, plus it's healthier. The onyx eyed male, sighed as the blond crossed his thoughts, he really wanted to help him and he'd do anything to get him out of that depressing aura, so he decided to devote half of his time, helping him, sure he had work and was of course a busy man, but he could mange to change his schedule. And he was doing all this for Naruto's sake.

The Uchiha quickened his pace when he saw their mansion in sight. Of course the Uchiha's lived in a huge mansion it was very huge that you could see it a mile away. Itachi didn't even ask for this, their family was very small, only four members, so why live in a mansion that could fill four families, when they could live in a small and simple house? At least that's what Itachi thought, but it seemed people don't think the same, they went with the saying; 'The bigger the better'.

He entered the mansion and found Sasuke standing by the door, wearing a black jacket and a pair of dark blue jeans, it seemed like he was going to leave somewhere.

"And where are you going?" Itachi asked his brother, in curiosity.

"Out." Was all Sasuke had to say, before passing his older brother, in an attempt to leave.

"Sasuke, keeping secrets from your older brother is rude,"

"Hn, you're acting like you have no secrets at all, big brother." Sasuke left no time for Itachi to respond, and walked out, shutting the door behind him, with a big 'bam'  
Itachi just sighed, and headed to his room for some rest. He knew arguing with his brother would give him a headache.

Naruto arrived at the cafe, after Itachi left the apartment. He didn't want to be scolded for being late, his mood was made out of gold, and he didn't want anyone to ruin it.

While he was busy serving others, a certain raven-head entered the cafe taking a seat. He leaned against his chair and sighed.

The blond kept taking orders, table from table, he was so concentrated on his work that he didn't know Sasuke was the person he was taking his order.

"What can I-" Naruto stood their shocked, a pair of blue eyes widened as they met with the onyx gaze, he couldn't believe who was in-front of him. He gulped and started sweating.

"U-Um anything I can get you?" Naruto asked, holding his pen with a small notepad. Sasuke placed his head on the back of his palm.

"Coffee will do," Naruto nodded and wrote that down, just when about he was going to leave Sasuke asked a question, that sounded a bit stupid judging from Naruto's clothes and him severing other's.

"You work here?" Was the question that Sasuke had asked. Naruto tried his best not to make the 'isn't it obvious' look, and nodded instead.

"So, it's true," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"What is-" Just about when Naruto was going to ask Sasuke, what he meant, a yell could be heard, as Naruto had been scolded in-front of Sasuke.

"Brat! Quit disturbing the customers and make yourself useful! I'm not paying you to slack off! Am I?!" The man, which seemed as the manager, yelled at the blond. Naruto apologized and quickly brought Sasuke a hot cup of coffee. "Anything else, sir?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke shook his head in decline.

Sasuke just stared at Naruto for a long period of time, he noticed how he let others push him easily, how he let them take advantage of him. Naruto even seemed like he was working very hard, but Sasuke heard that the cafe doesn't pay that much, so why did he work here? It didn't seem worth it. Did he really need the money that bad? Sasuke sighed and leaned back in his seat, he brushed his slender fingers through his thick dark hair, he found it reliving to do that sometimes.

But why was it his business? Naruto meant nothing to him, other then someone to tutor, he was just a classmate nothing more and nothing less. So if he really thought that about Naruto, why would he care if he worked at a place like this or not? Why would his heart ache when he sees the fake smile the blond puts up everyday? Maybe because it was his fault Naruto was in this state and other that that, he didn't care. At least that's what he thought.

Sasuke drank the rest of his coffee, placed the money on the table and left. Naruto stared at Sasuke leaving, he knew he left, because he was the one who took his order, yet it still pained him, seeing him leave like that. He still had feelings for Sasuke, despite all the hate he was receiving from him and almost everyone else. His feeling were still strong, and he hated himself for that.

The past days Naruto tried his best at juggling his time in work. He woke up at six am, for his first job, and came back at three pm. His second job started at three thirty pm and ended at ten. Leaving no time for Naruto to rest.

He flopped onto his couch, and closed his eyes in attempt to sleep, he was even to tired to change his clothes. He had to deal with this every week, and that was the main reason he failed most of his classes. But it wasn't in his hands, he was forced to do this, he didn't want to die because of starvation, anything but starvation.

The whiskered teen soon woke up on the couch in the morning, he recalled what happened and got up stretching and yawning. He placed his hand on his back for support, sleeping on the couch last night wasn't a good idea, but he had no strength to walk anymore last night. The blond soon got ready for school, he dressed into his school uniform after he took a shower and brushed his teeth. He swung his bag behind his back and locked his apartment door when he left.

School started the same, everything just like always. Naruto made his way to his seat and sat down their, minding his own business like always. The bell rang and class started, everyone took their seat, waiting for their teacher to arrive, but instead of their teacher a blond woman with low pigtails entered class; the principle. All the students looked at each-other confused. She never visited classes only to announce something important, so what did she have to tell them? Some of the students were even scared of what she had to say.

"Good morning," Tsunade said, with smile, the whole class returned the 'good morning' but in a rather sleepy way. Since it was a Early Monday morning.

"Some of you might be wondering why I'm here,"

"Obviously," One kid said sarcastically. Tsunade shot him a clod glare, making him sink into his seat, regretting talking back. She then cleared her throat.

"Let me just say, I came here announcing that; everyone's going on a field trip," She finished her sentence with a smile, while the students looked at each-other like 'what the fuck?'

"We aren't kids," A kid from the back of the class said. All the students stared at that kid, for having guts to say the truth to her.

"Everyone's been working hard, so I decided to let you guys have some fun, what's the harm in that?" The principle sighed and ordered the woman; Shuzine to hand out permission slips to everyone.

"Now, I want your guardian to sign this slip, and bring it tomorrow,"

Sasuke sighed, this is nonsense, he didn't want girls fighting over him. Besides he found this childish but he had no choice, at least he'd skip a day of tutoring Naruto. Sasuke just found it hard tutoring others. He found it himself unbelievable.

On the other hand Naruto really wanted to go, he finally found an excuse to skip work, but the problem was he didn't have a guardian, he frowned and stared blankly at the slip. Even though when he was sure, no one would even talk to him, and he wouldn't have fun like the rest. He wanted to go, but it seemed like he couldn't which made him slightly sad. Maybe someone would sign the slip and take responsibility, but who was he kidding? Who would take full responsibly for 'his' actions? He sighed placing his head on hand.

"Naruto, snap out of it, " Naruto raised his head to find Tsunade standing in-front of him, he felt so embarrassed for zoning out when she was calling out for him.

"Do you want to go?" She asked him.

"I can't" Was the blonds simple response.

"I didn't ask you whether you could or couldn't , I asked you if you wanted to go,"

"Well, yeah, I'd like to go, but I-"

"Then, I'll sign the slip for you," Naruto stared at her in shock, with eyes widened.

"Y-You'd do that? For me?" He asked surprised, trying not to cry tears of joy in-front of her. She nodded.

"Now give me your slip," Naruto handed his slip to her and she took out a pen and signed her name, on the slip. Naruto admired her handwriting, but he tried clearing his thoughts.

"But why?" Naruto asked, he was hoping an answer from her, but the truth was, she herself didn't know the reason  
for doing any of that. Maybe out of pity? Who knows?

She just smiled before exiting the class, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

Naruto felt his heart beat with happiness, first Itachi and know the principle; Tsunade? Maybe things were going to get better? Maybe he was going to be happy for once? Who knew what he had in-stored for tomorrow, destiny awaits.


	11. The Chance

Chapter Eleven

Naruto stood in a line as he was waiting to get in the bus. All of his classmates stood in-front of him, he sighed and looked in the distance. He soon spotted Sasuke, that already was sitting in the bus, with his head rested on the back of his palm, he had a bored expression written all over his face. Naruto knew he'd get in the bus before everyone else, his fangirls of course wouldn't let anyone get past him.

Finally everyone got in the bus, Naruto sighed and sat on the right row, next to the window. A random girl sat next him, with a face full of disgust, he payed her no attention. He was used to this by now, receiving death glares from everyone, almost everyday, was now normal to him.

He rested his head on his hand and stared outside the window. The blond didn't know why, but he kinda felt excited today, even though he hinted that no one would talk to him, or even look at him. He was happy, he finally had an excuse to skip work and skip tutoring with Sasuke, not that Sasuke's tutoring was something bad, but he didn't like bothering him in anyway.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, that was staring outside the window, just like him, but he seemed deep in thought, the blond sighed and leaned back in his seat. What was he thinking about? Naruto was very curious, but he couldn't go and ask him what he was thinking about, maybe if they were friends like before, he would've, but now things changed, and are very different.

The bus went to a complete halt making Naruto's body shift to the front as it stopped. Well it looks like they finally made it to their destination. Most of the students groaned as they got up to exit the bus hence they were headed to a carnival, they thought it was childish and boring, but Naruto disagreed with them, he thought they were brats who didn't appreciate what they had, and sadly he was right, unlike Naruto, they had a good life comparing to his pitiful one, and that's what made him angry. Not appreciating what you have, is something terrible.

The Uzumaki got up and exited the bus, just like the others. He slightly stretched inhaling the fresh air, and followed his classmates.  
Everyone stopped in a place filled with benches and tables that were made for picnics, Naruto thought that they were headed to a carnival not to a park. That's when he turned his head to see the principal; Tsunade and his teacher that was always wearing a mask that covered half of his face. Naruto furrowed his eye brows in confusion, he didn't know the principal and his teachers would be joining them on this trip.  
Tsunade ordered everyone to sit down for a fifteen minute rest, before she would inform them on what to do.

Naruto sat down alone a picnic table, while girls were fighting to win a seat with Sasuke and others just sat down with their friends, Naruto frowned slightly as stared down at his lap. Everyone preferred to sit in a crowed table then to sit down with him, his heart stung at the thought. His eye sight started to get blury. No, he couldn't cry, he was a man, he had to man up and at least try to act tough. He wiped his wet eyes with the back of his palm and gulped the lump in his throat. Naruto then rose his head and looked at everyone else, some flirting, others were playing tricks on each-other and some were pushing them selves off the table while laughing. Why couldn't be like that? Why couldn't enjoy his time like the others? He soon tried not to think about it and replaced those thoughts with positive ones, even though he didn't have that many positive memories, he just didn't want to be negative right here and right now.

Tsunade sighed, as she looked at the blond, slightly frowning she crossed her arms over her chest in a quite tight matter. The masked teacher noticed this and glanced at her.

"It's Naruto, isn't it," He said. Tsunade looked at him before nodding.

"Yeah, he's having a tough time, everyone's ignoring him, even at a time like this," She said, sighing once again.

"Poor kid, I guess people aren't accepting as they seem to be,"

"And they're giving him a hard time, he's supposed to forget about everything and enjoy his time here, not make him pity himself about the life he's living." She sighed, sitting down. The masked teacher sat down beside her on the bench, trying to comfort her.

"Then what do you plan to do on that?" He asked and she massaged her temples.

"I don't know,"

"How about this trip, are you going to serpret everyone in groups or let them go one by one?" He asked again, and Tsunade looked at him with a smile that soon widened.

"That's it! Kakashi you're a genius!" The man; Kakashi gave her a puzzled look.

"What're you planning to do?" She just smiled at his question, and didn't answer it.

After the fifteen minutes have passed, she gained everyone's attention, and looked at them one by one, everyone had shivers run through down their spine, they were afraid that they might have down something wrong and were going to get punished any moment now.

"Okay, instead of everyone going with a group of friends, we've decided to let you guys go, two by two; it's safer this way and much more easier." She smiled, and everyone groaned. "But," She said, and gained everyone's attention again. "I'm going to pick these small groups," She gave everyone a closed eyed smile.

Everyone groaned even louder, now they had no chance of being with the person they wanted to be with, but Naruto didn't payed no attention to them, he knew who ever he'd go with would just ignore him, besides he also knew he wouldn't be partnered with Sasuke, so he was calm and collected.

"Before, I pick everyone's partner, I wanted to say that you have to be back here at three o'clock sharp," Tsunade said and everyone nodded. Since it was twelve pm they had only three hours, most of the students sighed in relief at this thought.

Tsunade started picking students who she saw cute together, even though they never spoken to each-other she partnered them, which made everyone annoyed. Two by two students started leaving, some boys were partnered with boys and some were a girls with boys. It didn't matter to Tsunade whoever looked cute together would be partnered whether they liked it or not.

Naruto looked around to see Sasuke still sitting down, with an annoyed expression washed on his face, his heart beat increased. No, no, no he couldn't be partnered with Sasuke, he was just imagining things, of course he wouldn't be partnered with him, there were still more students sitting down, maybe the principle was waiting for the right time. The blond looked around to see only four more students including him and Sasuke, oh no. What was Tsunade thinking? Naruto prayed that he'd get called on to go with that random student but he was unfortunate. Tsunade called on him and Sasuke.

"Oh, it seems you guys are the last pair," She smiled innocently at the two. "Have fun!" She said and left the boys alone. Naruto stared at her dumbfounded and Sasuke just face palmed. Of course she planned for all of this, but maybe they're going to change for the worse. Naruto's heart beat increased once more, now he was with Sasuke, the last person that wanted to see him. Oh how was he going to deal with this?

Sasuke hid his hands in his pockets and started walking, leaving Naruto behind. Naruto noticed this and caught up, walking behind him. The whiskered teen lowered his head and stared at the ground, slightly frowning, he bit his lower lip.

"Which ride do you wanna go on first?" Sasuke asked, catching Naruto off guard making him raise his head and stare at Sasuke who was searching for the right ride to go on. He felt his heart skip a beat, making his heart flutter in excitement.

"I'm okay with any ride," he simply said.

"So you aren't afraid of heights?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow questioning him.

"No," The blond said, shaking his head in decline.

"Okay then lets go on the roller coasters," Sasuke said, walking. Naruto nodded, and instead of walking behind him, he walked beside him.

Naruto raised his head to hear screams from the roller coaster, he gulped, oh boy, this was going to be a long ride, Naruto thought. The two teens waited until the coaster stopped. Everyone got off, some with green faces, others were barfing and some were even laughing. Naruto gulped the lump in his throat and sat down, Sasuke sat in-front of him, while he sat in the back. The coaster started moving slowly and the speed soon increased. The Uzumaki hasn't ever went on a coaster he was sure this was his first time. He felt his hair, fly in the rapid wind as he hung on tight to the coasters belt, he smiled ever so widely as he started giggling. It was fun. The ride was incredible he never found something this amusing before, he soon couldn't take it anymore and let his arms go, while screaming loudly, he screamed like there was no tomorrow, luckily it was combined with the other screams, so no one noticed it was that loud, but he didn't care. There were no fucks given that day.

The ride eventually came to a stop, alerting everyone to got off the ride. Sasuke groggily got up with a slightly green face, holding his head, he tried to get his balance back. While Naruto got off laughing, he placed his hand over his mouth in attempt to calm down, from laughing too hard, but of course it was no use. Sasuke glanced at Naruto, when was it the last time he laughed like this? He never heard him, laugh like this before.

"That was fun!" Naruto giggled, smiling widely. Sasuke just stared at him, with shock. Naruto noticed this and looked at him, frowning.

"Is there something wrong? Didn't you like the ride?" Naruto asked, with concern. The Uchiha looked at him and walked away with his hand into his pockets. Naruto caught up, walking behind him, frowning. 'Did I do something wrong?' Naruto asked himself. 'Maybe it's cause I have a weird smile or a ugly laugh, or maybe he wants to be partnered with someone else' Naruto frowned lowering his head, one minute he was happy, and the second he was already sad. He loved that feeling of happiness, but he was afraid to be happy, because every-time he was, something happened to him making him regret lots of things in his life.

Naruto just followed, not daring to mutter another word. Sasuke soon came into a complete halt making the smaller male bump into his back. Naruto raised his head, slightly rubbing his forehead, he could've sworn he hit a rock. He uttered a 'sorry' before Sasuke turned around to look at him.

"Wanna get some ice-cream?" Sasuke asked, looking at the blond. Naruto's eyes widened, wait...what just happened? The shorter male just nodded, from the shock. The Uchiha lead him to a close ice-cream shop, he ordered two ice-creams, and took his, gesturing to Naruto to take his share. After the blond took it, he started thinking about what was going on and In result Naruto squeezing the cone to hard, from Sasuke's weird actions, it fell on his shoe, he didn't even get to lick it. He frowned and slightly pouted and whispered an 'aww'. Sasuke noticed this and sighed handing his, to the blue eyed male. Naruto looked at him with confusion.

"Take it, Sasuke simply stated.

"But it's yours, I can't-"Naruto was cut off by Sasuke.

"I don't like sweets anyways, so it's no big deal," Naruto first heisted but soon took it smiling.

"Thank you," He said smiling, a real genuine one.

"Hn." Came Sasuke's famous reply, which proved him to be a real Uchiha. The two teens sat down on a close bench near by, Naruto started eating his ice-cream while Sasuke was looking at the distance. After the blond finished his ice-cream, he glanced at Sasuke, curious at what he may be looking for.

"Is there something wrong?" Naruto asked. Sasuke just shook his head.

"I'm just looking for more rides," Sasuke replied. "got any you'd like to go on?" Naruto's face lit up as he quickly nodded.

"I'd like to go on the Ferris Wheel," He said getting up, pointing at the gigantic wheel but after a few seconds when Sasuke gave no reaction, to Naruto's request, the blond frowned a bit.

"I mean, if you'd like to go," Naruto, muttered more like whispered as he bit his lip. It soon became a bad habit of the blond to bite his lower lip whenever he was nervous.

"Fine, let's go," Sasuke said, getting up, and dug his hands in his pockets as he walked to the wheel with the blond behind him. After they bought tickets, they waited in the line and soon entered on of the cabins, the teens sat down, and closed the door, a few seconds later the rode started and the cabin got higher and higher from the ground, The Uzumaki stared at the beautiful view, with a small smile on his lips, Sasuke noticed this and glanced at him, confused.

"Weren't you excited a few moments ago? What's wrong now?" Sasuke asked and Naruto looked at him with a shocked expression and hided it with a fake smile.

"No, it's fantastic, rea-" Naruto said and was cut off by Sasuke.

"Is it because you think, I don't want to be partnered with you?"The Uchiha asked.

"I- yeah..." Naruto lowered his head, nodding. The dark haired male, sighed and looked at him.

"It's not, don't worry," Sasuke said,"Just...just enjoy your time here and forget about everything else," He said leaning back in the seat. Naruto raised his head, and glanced at Sasuke, who's eyes were closed with his hands behind his smaller male, felt butterfly's in his stomach as he heard those wonderful words of concern leave Sasuke's mouth, he finally made sure that he didn't hate him anymore, but he still had a long way ahead of him in making things clear with Sasuke, but he knew he was doing it right.

The teens spent their time riding various rides, some were picked by Sasuke, and some were picked by the Uzumaki. Time soon flew by as they both had fun, even though Sasuke wouldn't ever admit it, but he truly did have a wonderful time with Naruto. The teens made their way back to where the bus was, along with their classmates to avoid the anger of their scary principle. Naruto looked at his classmates, and instead of seeing them have that bored expression they had when they got here, they had smiles on their faces along with laughs and giggles were heard with their partners, it seemed like it wasn't only Naruto who had fun but everyone else also did, which made Naruto happy, he always liked seeing others happy, even if they actually despised him.

Maybe this simple day was the best day in Naruto's life. He's done a lot of stuff he had wished to do, and instead of him being ignored, he was acknowledged by the person, he was afraid of. The person, who he tried his best to impress. He smiled, as he thought, 'This moment shall be cherished, as one of the most amazing moments in my life' He knew he could rebuild his and Sasuke's friendship, he couldn't screw this up, he finally was doing something right and all it took was to never give up. Naruto, then focused his mind, on not giving up anymore, he didn't want to be weak, he wanted to be tough. He wanted to be remembered as the person who never gave up and he could do that, with support.

After everyone made it back to school, students entered their classrooms. It seemed like they had a half an hour before they could head back home. Naruto exited the classroom sense there was no teacher, and made his way to the principals office, he knocked the door, and twisted the door knob open after he heard a 'come in'.  
The principle raised her head to see Naruto standing beside the door, she smiled after she realized it was him.

"Oh Naruto, is there something wrong?" She asked in concern. Naruto shook his head in reply.

"No, I just wanted to thank you," Tsunade raised an eyebrow at his weird statement.

"For what?" She asked, putting her pen down, folding her hands together.

"For making this day come true, I wasn't ignored today, nor was I picked on. I had a great day, and it's all thanks to you," He finished smiling, his blue eyes, glowing. Tsunade placed her hands on her desk and got up. She walked to the blond, and looked at him, big brown orbs were locked with glowing blue ones. She wrapped her arms around his back, bringing him into a tight hug.

"You don't need to thank me Naruto, It's my duty, to help," She said pulling back, placing her hand on his shoulders. The blond smiled again, he even lost count in times he actually smiled a genuine smile. Tsunade then placed her lips on his forehead, planting a small kiss there.

"Now, if there's anything you need help with, don't ever hesitate to call me, alright?" Naruto nodded and thanked her once more, before leaving her office. He sighed in relief. 

It was official this 'was' the best day in his life and he thanked Tsunade for every minute of it.


	12. It can't be

Chapter Twelve

Naruto sighed as he was twirling his pencil between his index and middle finger, he groaned and hit his head onto the desk. He sighed. Class was boring, and he wasn't understanding anything, he seemed to have a hard time, listening to what the teacher was saying. A lot has been going on in his life, especially after the field trip they went on yesterday, so there were alot of things going on, in his mind right now.

Naruto lifted his head, in attempt to listen to the teacher, but of course it failed. His mind was in a different world. Courtesy because of Sasuke. Everything between them was destroyed from; friendship and trust. Naruto tried thinking of ways to regain Sasuke's trust, he didn't care how, no matter what was the way he would do it. But what if Sasuke didn't want to become friends again? What if Sasuke liked it this way; not being Naruto's friend?

The blond groaned as he started biting his pencil. Things were getting frustrating and Naruto decided for once and for all, that his decision would be; not to bother Sasuke anymore. He didn't know how Sasuke felt of becoming friends again, and maybe the things he did for him at the trip were out of pity? Maybe he felt bad for treating Naruto like that and wanted to make it up by treating him better? The blue eyed male had no idea what to think anymore, but he knew that he had to try and forget Sasuke, because Sasuke isn't the same person as before, this was a different man.

The bell rang, ripping Naruto from his thoughts. Students slowly gathered their items and exited the classroom, wanting to escape hell which was known as 'school'. Naruto finally did the same and held his bag with his hand, instead of swinging it over his shoulder. The blond decided to head over to his locker, to take the books and notebooks that were needed for the tutoring session. As he was digging through his lockers, faint low, laughter could be heard right beside him. Naruto gulped the lump in his throat. _Ignore, ignore ignore._ The blond thought to himself. He closed his locker and to his surprise, someone **_was_** standing there. Sweat started forming on his forehead, as Naruto noticed it, he wiped it away with his long sleeve. Trying not to freak out in-front of them. There in-front of him was standing a very buff and tall student, along with other three boys standing right beside him. _No please not now. "_ Oh, look what we have here," The buff one, said in a low mocking tone. "If it isn't the little fag,"

Naruto slightly trembled. His grip on his bag back tightened, as he thought of what they were going to do to him. Oh this didn't sound too good.

"What do you want?" Naruto finally asked, trying to gain courage. He hoped they couldn't sense the fear in his tone.

"Oh, he talks," He said laughing, in a mocking tone. His expressions soon changed, a dark aura surrounding his presence. He cracked his knuckles, a strong popping sound echoing through the hallways were heard as he did. "Get him," Naruto's eyes widened, as he was going to try to run away, but two strong arms grabbed him harshly. Stopping him in his tracks. The blond looked up at them, struggling to get away from their tight grasp.

"L-Let me go!" He yelled, still struggling. That's when a strong impact was directed towards his stomach, making him wince in pain.

"Aw, little fag in pain?" The bully mocked yet again.

Naruto never felt more pain in his life, punch after punch, kick after kick. It seemed like they never wanted to stop. Naruto's face was swollen from all the punches that were directed to his tan face. He realized his stomach might also be swollen from all this pain. There were bruises forming on his body, making half of his body, a dark shade of blue and purple. Blood was now dripping from his mouth, sliding down his jaw all the way to his shirt, that was already stained with the red color of blood.

He winced again, as they gave him one last good kick, before leaving. He was on the floor, clenching his sour stomach. _What have I done wrong?_ Was all he thought before everything went black.

Sasuke was leaning on the wall, waiting for that idiot blond, he had to tutor. Minutes passed by, but there was no clue of him. He sighed, he thought that maybe he was busy? Or maybe he was looking for something but he then remembered the last time, he didn't show up. A flashback of Naruto getting beaten up was replayed in his mind. Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. _No, not again._

Sasuke roamed around the school in search of the Uzumaki he hurried down the hallway, the soles of his shoes beating against clean tile, until he slows down with a heavy breath at his classroom door but there was no sign of him. Classrooms, bathrooms, even the principles office were empty, and there was still no clue of him. Sasuke's gut twisted in worry, as he assumed the worst might happen to Naruto. He then passed the lockers thinking that Naruto might be there but instead he saw a small pool of blood. The Uchiha's eyes widened as thought about who the blood belonged to. _N-Naruto?_  
That's when something bright hurt his eyesight, he winced and backed away, trying to find the source of the beaming light. Sasuke scanned his surroundings, trying to find the source and when he did he rose one eyebrow in curiosity before leaning down to pick up the item, he then realized it was a necklace but not any necklace, it was the necklace that fully belonged to the Uchiha, that had the Uchiha crest proving that it really did belong to that famous clan. But why was it here? And how did it get here? Could there actually be another Uchiha here, who dropped it? He just shook his head and stuffed the necklace into his pocket. All he had on his mind right now was Naruto. He had to find him.

Sasuke jogged in search for the blue eyed male, and there was still no sign of him. _This is getting frustrating._  
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes. The clock was ticking and it seemed time wasn't on his side this time.  
Where could he be? Sasuke was sure, he looked all around the school, he couldn't of just disappeared. The dark haired male gritted his teeth in frustration. He finally decided to stop looking and gave up. Satisfied with the thought of the blond heading home.

As he passed the lockers on his way to the exit, someone on the floor kneeling down, could be seen. Sasuke got closer trying to get clear sight of his expressions and just for his luck, it was the person he'd be searching for from the beginning. Naruto.

"Naruto where have you been, I've been searching for you for half an hour," Sasuke said, trying not to yell at the blond. Naruto rose his head up with tears stinging his cheek, red puffy eyes meeting dark orbs.

"S-Sasuke? I'm sorry," He sniffed, drying his wet tears with the back of his palm. Sasuke's expressions softened.

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"I can't find it," Naruto whispered, tears forming in his blue eyes. Making them look like a dark ocean.

"What?" Sasuke said confused.

"The last memory, I had of our friendship, I lost it" Tears made their way to down his bruised cheek. "I can't find it anywhere!" He sobbed. Sasuke looked at Naruto, still confused. He then kneeled down, looking at Naruto directly in the eye. "What did you lose?" The dark eyed male, said calmly, yet in a smoothing way.

"My necklace, Sasuke, I lost my necklace," Sasuke's body froze, _No, it can't be._ He pulled the necklace, he found earlier from his pocket, waving it in the air. Naruto's ocean blue eyes widened both in happiness and shock, at this point he forgot all the pain, he received earlier.

"How did you get your hands on this? Only the Uchiha members have this, and I already know you aren't one," Sasuke said, now holding the necklace with his palm.

"You mean you don't remember?" Naruto asked, frowning. The dark haired male, just shook his head in decline. "No, I don't. What's there to remember?"

"You gave me the necklace, Sasuke," Sasuke stared at him in disbelief his whole body freezing in its place. Memories replayed through his mind, memories he himself had buried. The ones he chose to forget about. Sasuke felt everything around him being played in slow motion. His dark bangs covering his eyes. _"It can't be"_

 **-FLASHBACK-**

"Dobe,"

"Jerk"

"Bastered"

"Asshole,"

"Hn,"

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Naruto yelled," Uchiha's acting all high and mighty," He mumbled to himself.

"Well, people like you, don't deserve my attention,"

"Jerk! What makes you think you're better than me?! " Naruto yelled obviously angered. While Sasuke just smirked to himself.

"I'm popular, rich, smart and every single girl wishes to be with me,"

"Well, you're still not better than me!" Naruto yelled.

"I don't care what you think,"

"YOU PISS ME OFF, UCHIHA!" Sasuke ignored him, looking away. While Naruto just sat down, crossing his arms over his chest angrily. "Jerk," He mumbled to himself, again. After a few moments of silence, something was being waved in front of Naruto, startling him and confusing him at the same time.

"Sasuke! What do you think you're doing?! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Just take it," Sasuke simply said, dropping a necklace onto his lap. Naruto held it, admiring its beauty.

"Wow, it's beautiful," The blond said, almost in a whisper.

"Well it's all yours now,"

"What? But why?" Naruto asked.

"You said I think I'm better than you, by taking the necklace, you won't have to think that anymore,"

"But, it has the Uchiha crest on it, won't you need it?"

" Not at all," Sasuke said, leaning back into his seat.

"Thank you, Sasuke!" Naruto smiled, brightly.

"Don't mention it, **ever** ," Naruto just laughed, holding the beautiful necklace in his hands.

 **-FLASHBACK OVER-**

"Sasuke? " Naruto said, in a concerned tone.

"You..You still have this?" Sasuke asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

"I..Yeah, it was a gift from you after all," The blond trailed off.

He couldn't believe it. How did Naruto still have that necklace? How could he, even after all of the things that had happened?

"The last memory, I had of our friendship, I lost it! I can't find it anywhere!"

Sasuke's body felt heavy, everything, he'd forgotten, was all back. All the times he spent with Naruto. All the times he'd helped him, scolded him and even cared for him. They all re-winded in his mind, like a broken video player. A video player that seemed to never stop.

The dark haired male dropped the necklace onto the blue eyed male's lap, while getting up.

"Let's go," Sasuke sighed, already making his way to the exit. He grabbed his bag and waited for Naruto before walking . The blond walked a few feet behind the other, it looked like the results of getting beaten up, was showing. The Uchiha looked behind his shoulders to see Naruto far behind. Sasuke stopped in his tracks and turned around waiting for Naruto to catch up. After he did he asked him;

"What's wrong?" Naruto looked up, startled a bit.

"Nothing, don't worry," He gave him a reassuring smile.

"Well, it doesn't seem like it, your body looks bruised, you're hurting,"

"I-" Naruto was cut off.

"C'mon, let's go and get you patched up," Sasuke gestured for him to follow and Naruto smiled walking beside him, he quickened his pace this time.


	13. Rain

**Re cap: Naruto was having a good day, until he was bullied badly, leaving him with several unwanted bruises. Sasuke was worried and decided to look for Naruto, unfortunately he couldn't find him but instead he found a necklace with the Uchiha symbol on it, he took it and continued looking for Naruto and this time he found him. He found out that the necklace belonged to him and he was the one who gave it to him. Leaving Sasuke at pure shock, memories started playing through his mind. Sasuke soon then walked back home with Naruto, to start their tutoring session, insisting on helping Naruto, with his bruises.**

Chapter Thirteen

"Hold still,"

"I'm trying, but it hurts."

"Then stop moving,"

"I'll try, alright?"

Sasuke wrapped Naruto's back with bandages, trying to ease the pain. Bandage after bandage, it seemed like they would never stop. Naruto's body was soon covered with white bandages, that made him look like a small blond mummy.

"Are you done?" Sasuke nodded while sitting down, throwing Naruto his shirt. Naruto caught it and wore his shirt right after.  
Surprisingly, Sasuke insisted on taking care of the blond's bruises. He even made Naruto take off his shirt, of course the blue eyed male, refused too, but Sasuke threatened that he'd take off his shirt himself, if he wouldn't. Yup, the brother's both are alike somehow.

"How long ago, did I give you that necklace?" Sasuke asked, laying down, on his king sized bed. Naruto was taken aback by the sudden question, it took him a few seconds for his mind to process.

"Uhm, right after we met by a month," He blushed, looking away very quickly. He couldn't forget that Sasuke just saw him half naked right now. He then mentally scolded himself for blushing at the smallest of things.

"Oh," The onyx male said, staring at his dark blue ceiling.  
Things definitely had changed, how did Naruto go from ' Bright ball of sunshine Naruto' to 'self hated, depressing Naruto' Oh right, it was his fault.  
The one who rejected him, Sasuke. The one hated him Sasuke. The one who called him a faggot, Sasuke. The one who hurt him deeply, Sasuke. It was all him, every single thing he's done. He didn't even have anyone to blame but himself.

Naruto cupped his shoulder with right hand, slowly rubbing it to ease his nerves and to collect all the courage he had left. Gulping the lump in his throat he manged to look at Sasuke, without blushing or even looking away, like he usually did when he talked to him.

"Sasuke, um, the session," Naruto manged to say making Sasuke, sit up. He sighed a bit while running his pale ghost like fingers through his dark colored hair, to help relive the stress. "Yeah, let's start."

Sasuke began tutoring Naruto like he usually did, starting by teaching him the basics of the subject he was learning, then slowly explaining the harder things.  
Hours went by and Naruto still hadn't left, the blond tried to leave several times but Sasuke refused for him to leave claiming that he needed to get better in the subject he was teaching him but Sasuke's intentions were no near that fake excuse. He was actually worried about Naruto's health. He had just gotten a beating, he couldn't possibly leave suddenly like that with all those injuries.

Naruto sighed in irritation, closing his eyes for a few seconds to register what was going on. He opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke once more.

"Sasuke. I. Need. To. Leave." Naruto demanded, trying his best not to glare at Sasuke. The Uchiha got up and crossed his arms over his chest and walked to the door, to block Naruto's path. "You can't leave until I finish tutoring you, Naruto."

"You can tutor me tomorrow, I'll even come earlier than I usually do, we can both tell the principle, I'm sure she'll understand." Sasuke being the stubborn asshole he was refused and shook his head.

"No, we're finishing now," He looked at the clock that was located at his right side, he then slightly squinted his eyes as he saw the time and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You aren't leaving."

"But Sasuke, I've got to work, I'm going to be late if I don't leave in a few minutes."

"Where do you work?" Sasuke rose his eyebrows in curiosity as he let his arms fall to his sides, bringing one hand to scratch his head, making it messier than it already was.

"Um, at Icharuka's restaurant, why?" The Uchiha grabbed his coat and wore it very quickly and exited his room, shutting the door quite loudly, leaving Naruto more confused than he already was. Naruto sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. _Sasuke's acting so weird today, what's up with him today_?

Naruto took this chance of being alone, to examine the Uchiha's room. He walked to his nightstand and took a frame in his hands that was sitting still on the brown colored table, he brushed his fingers on the picture and wiped the dust to get a clearer picture of what was behind the glass. Naruto's eyes slightly widened as he saw, two brothers holding the peace sign. The younger one made a goofy face while the older one had a gentle smile sculpted on his lips. They looked genuinely happy, the blond knew it was both Sasuke and Itachi, but why hadn't he seen this picture before? He had been in Sasuke's house several times before but he was sure this was the first time he had seen this picture.  
Naruto shrugged it off and gently put the picture where it was. He let out a boring sigh as he sat on the Uchiha's bed and stared at the clock.

 _Tick tock, tick tock._

Naruto groaned, throwing himself on the king sized bed, as he once again sighed in frustration, he stared at the dark colored ceiling, trying to entertain himself in someway but his eye lids soon got heavier, he then finally gave up the urge to keep them open, convincing himself that he'll just close his eyes for a few minutes without falling asleep and boy was he wrong. A few minutes passed and the blond was snoring like there was no tomorrow.

Sasuke entered his room and hung his wet coat, on his hanger, Sasuke looked right and left trying to find the blond, but he wasn't in sight. He came closer to his bed to find a sleeping figure, snoring lightly, smiling he brought an extra blanket he had for emergencies and covered the male's sleeping figure. The Uchiha was lucky he came after Naruto stopped his load snoring by minutes.

Fortunately Naruto was asleep and he was safe and sound just like Sasuke wanted him to be. The black eyed male sat down at the edge of his bed, letting a short sigh out, as he hid his face between his hands, he slowly rubbed his eyes to ease the pain of his headache.

A _pale male brushed his slender fingers into his hair, covering half of his face as he did so. He looked at the confused blond ahead of him, a smirk widening._

"No one needs you," Naruto glanced at the male, clearly confused. "No one loves you."

"W-Who are you?!" Naruto yelled, obviously angered at how the stranger treated him. The pale man, let his hand fall to his side, making his bangs cover his pale face, smiling, he started laughing. Naruto took a few steps behind, making his back meet a wall he hadn't acknowledge before. The man laughed sadistically, and then suddenly stopped, taking a few steps closer to the boy. Naruto felt his body freeze, making him not move a muscle, he struggled to move his legs, but that didn't do any help.

The pale man, came closer to the blond. Naruto's eyes widened, he felt a couple droplets of sweat form on his forehead as the black haired man, was only inches from his face. The man leaned in and whispered into Naruto's ear; "Just go die."  
~~~~~~

Naruto's eyes fluttered open, as he suddenly sat up, panting. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his palm. _I-It was a dream!_ The blond sighed in relief as he realized none of that actually happened.

"You're up." A voice ripped Naruto from his thoughts, he looked up to see Sasuke leaning on a wall, his arms crossed against his chest.

"Sasuke, oh my God, what time is it?! I need to head back home!" Naruto quickly got out of Sasuke's bed, as he was trying to exit the Uchiha's room, he then hit his forehead to feel something blocking his way. He rubbed his forehead to see Sasuke standing in-front of his bed room door.

"Sasuke please! I nee-"The stubborn Uchiha sighed and covered Naruto's mouth with his hand.

"I get it, I get it, you want to leave because you want to head home," The whiskered teen, tried talking but Sasuke's hand blocked every word that tried to escape his mouth, making his attempt to talk sound as if he was mumbling very loudly.

"You can't go home, there's a storm outside and you also have a week off from work," Naruto tried getting Sasuke's hand away from his mouth, but couldn't, hence Sasuke was stronger than him, which left him to do only one thing.

"Naruto!" Sasuke whipped his hand against his jeans, as it was wet from Naruto's saliva.

"Your fault! You bas-" The blue eyed male covered his mouth with his hand. He shivered at the thought of what he was going to say.

"What were you going to say?" Sasuke looked at the male making his heart drop in guilt, he gulped the huge lump in his throat and made his hands into fists, trying to calm his self down. Naruto let his hand fall to his side, lowering his gaze, he also lowered his voice.

"N...Nothing." He uttered, his blue eyes a dark color as the ocean, a color that meant sadness in Naruto's state.

"No, what did you want to say?" Sasuke's onyx eyes fell on the blond whom had his head lowered to the ground, making a few of his golden strands fall on his eyes. The Uzumaki, looked away, in a matter that made the other male worry about him.

Sasuke sighed, and decided not to pressure the blond to answer, but he still wanted to hear what he was going to say, even though he most likely knew what it was. The Uchiha then turned around, without realizing what he was going to say.

"I miss the old Naruto, where'd 'that' Naruto go?" Sasuke mentally scolded himself for asking such a stupid question. He looked at Naruto, who rose his head and looked at Sasuke, making direct eye contact with him, their gaze locked, onyx orbs with dark ocean blue ones.

"Maybe that Naruto," He said focusing on 'that'. "Wasn't stabbed multiple times in the heart, by his only best friend."

Sasuke slightly flinched as what he said was true, but he still had his gaze locked with the blond, mentally telling the blond that he can continue.

"Maybe that Naruto, wasn't bullied as badly," He gulped the lump in his throat, trying not to cry. "Maybe that Naruto still had a reason to live and continue trying." He said with lower voice, his hands formed fists, but he slowly let them go.

Sasuke didn't know what to feel, guilt, pity, sadness, anger? He was a tornado of emotions, he honestly didn't know what to feel anymore. Sasuke broke eye contact with the blond as he sighed and sat down.

"I...I just miss the old Naruto, even though I know, it was purely my fault that I lost him." He said with a low tone filled with guilt. Naruto looked away, not knowing how to respond to that and instead he also sat down, in one of Sasuke's couches that was opposite side of the other male.

Naruto balanced his head on the back of his hand, whilst looking outside, from Sasuke's huge window. Rain lashed down producing a calm soothing noise, which he loved. A few sounds of thunder made it to Naruto's ear, but it didn't scare him, but instead it calmed him down a bit. These kind of nights were always his favorites. He would always drop everything he had or stop what he was doing, just to sit down in front of his window, to look at the sheets of rain, that made it down to the city.

Sasuke on the other hand was afraid of these kind of nights, he would always flinch when ever he heard the sound of thunder, yet he never admitted to anyone, expect for Itachi, of course Sasuke never told his older brother, but he some how found out and made him swear not to tell a soul.  
His grip on his jeans tightened as once more a sound of thunder made it's way to his ears. Breathing slowly would always calm him down and that's what he did, he then closed his eyes and started counting.

Naruto analyzed the other male's expression, and then decided to slowly open the window, since Sasuke wasn't noticing at all.  
He curled his fingers on the lower edge of the window, slowly pushing it up, he was careful not to make any sound or open it up to far. Soon a scent of the mixed weather was inhaled, it was a mix of rain and another scent Naruto always couldn't recognize, but it didn't bother him as long he could enjoy the beautiful scent. He closed his eyes inhaling the odd mixture of the rain while listening to droplets of water hitting the ground. It never failed to to calm him down.

A huge thud ripped Naruto and Sasuke out of their thoughts, they opened their eyes and glanced at each-other before getting up. Confusion was worn on their expressions.  
Sasuke exited his room, with Naruto following after. They made their ways to the living room to see something that took their breaths away.

There Itachi was laying on the floor unconscious

 **Updates are every Saturday and Wednesday. Comment, please thanks 3  
And If I don't update kick my ass for me will ya.**


	14. Emotions

Chapter Fourteen

Itachi's eyes fluttered open his eye sight still blurry, it took him a few seconds to recognize his surroundings. He felt something warm and wet on his forehead, him being familiar with this position before, he already knew it was a wet cloth, being placed on his forehead. He glanced to his right, fully opening his eyes, something yellow was moving around. His eye sight finally returned to normal, and he recognized the yellow blur as Naruto.

"Sasuke! He's awake!" Naruto yelled, his cerulean blue eyes, widened in happiness and joy. Itachi felt his happy aura already rubbing on him. Sasuke quickly entered the guest room to see his brother, fully awake. A smile was plastered on the said Uchiha's lips, making his face lit in joy. It was very strange seeing this new emotion for Sasuke, the same could be said about Naruto.

The tired Uchiha looked at both of the teens, confusion washed on his features as he slowly sat up."What happened?" He asked as he placed his hand on his forehead, removing the wet towel. His face pale, than it already was. Naruto slightly shrugged as he glanced at Sasuke then at his older brother. "We don't know, we just found you laying unconscious by the door. Do you remember anything?"

The Uchiha placed his hand on his chin, trying to remember what he had done before collapsing when he entered. He leaned on the bed's frame before he answered with: "I was out to get groceries, that's when I felt dizzy on the way back," Sasuke sighed as he took a chair and sat on it, clearly worried about his older brother's health, despite him trying not to show any sign of worry. "Why would you go out on a weather like this?" He said pointing at the large window, trying not to raise his voice.

"We needed them." He answered simply.

"Then why not get one of the maids to do it?"

"If you haven't noticed Sasuke, none of the maids are here, they're out with mother and father to receive their raise." Sasuke sighed, leaning back in his chair in defeat.

"When will the weather get better?" The quite blond asked, as he cupped his shoulder with his right hand, showing signs of him being nervous.

"The weather is showing no sign of getting better," Sasuke answered. Crossing his arms over his chest, his left hand fiddling his gray colored shirt, in attempt to show no signs of boredom, but that of course failed as both Naruto and Itachi, noticed how bored he really was.

"You guys can leave, I feel much more better now, thanks to the both of you." Itachi smiled.

"But Itachi-" Naruto was cut off by the older Uchiha.

"I'm fine Naruto, please don't worry about me, I'm sure I just caught a cold." Naruto sighed in defeat, if there was on thing the Uchiha's were known for it was for them being very stubborn. The teens both slowly got up to exit the room, but Itachi's voice cut Naruto once again.

"Wait, Naruto," The blond stopped in his tracks and glanced at Itachi, slightly confused. He turned around fully facing Itachi that was still on the bed.

"Why is your cheek swollen?" Itachi asked with a hint of concern lingering in his tone. Naruto didn't quite know how to respond to this, should he lie, or tell him the truth? Him being nervous, he began pulling on his long sleeve, confusion plastered on his tan face.

"I um,"

"Someone bullied you again, didn't they?" Naruto gave up, knowing what he said would obviously make him a liar, he slowly nodded his head, secretly wishing that he had no more question for him.

A sigh escaped the said Uchiha's lips, as looked at Naruto, his dark orbs showing both saddens and concern for the blond. "Don't push yourself too hard and don't stay alone." The Uzumaki smiled at the way Itachi was concerned for him. He nodded before finally exited the room.

As soon as Naruto left the room Itachi sighed once again, still worried about Naruto's health. The dark haired male will always worry about the blond, no matter what state he was in, which showed how much he actually cared for him, for no practical reason at all.

Naruto slowly walked down the halls, up stairs straight to Sasuke's room, he was slightly worried that spending time with Sasuke would make things awkward hence he apologized once again. He took a long breath as he placed his hand on the door knob slowly twisting it, to open the door. There the dark haired male was siting on a couch, opposite side to the window, just like his earlier position. He glanced up from the book he was reading, only to go back to reading again, slowly shifting from his place.

Naruto mentally sighed and sat down, beside the large window, placing his head on the back of his palm, just like before. Just what should he do about Sasuke? He apologized two times and he didn't accept. He was just tired off all the shit currently going on in his life, he wanted to have a reason to live again, but as he thought about it, he _did_ have a reason. There were people in his life who had helped him, both; Tsunade and Itachi, have at least asked him how he was. Even at Itachi's current sickness, he still asked Naruto how he was and how he got those bruises on his cheek. The blond female, had signed a whole paper for the field trip, taking responsibility for him, even though no one else would. That had to be something special, those two people in his life had to be worth fighting for. Plus, Naruto already promised himself to never give up anymore, he wouldn't let anything get in his way anymore, he was sure of it.

"How long, did my manger give me a vacation for?" Naruto suddenly asked, in a bit of a cold tone, not ripping his eyes from the window. The Uchiha, flinched at Naruto's attempt to make a conversation with him, he grew a bit anxious. Closing the book and placing it down, he looked at the other male, still noticing him staring at the view the window held.

"For a week."

"Okay." Came Naruto's simple yet scary reply. The other teen, sighed scolding himself, for his short reply also. He took a deep breath and looked at the other.

"Naruto, I want to be your friend again." This caught the blond off guard, he looked at Sasuke furrowing his eyebrows, sighing a bit as he pulled on his long sleeve in attempt to calm down.

"Not this again," He whispered, but loud enough for the other male to hear.

"I'm serious Naruto, I made a mistake," The Uchiha's eyes scanned Naruto features, trying to read his reaction towards his apology but he remained silent, giving no response whats so ever. Sasuke decided this was his Que to talk.

"I'm very sorry for hurting you, it was a huge mistake I made,"

"If you really _were_ sorry, you would've apologized earlier." Naruto said harshly, coldness lingering in his tone, noticing he had no problem talking to Sasuke without stuttering or looking down anymore, he was completely fine, and he was relived about that.

"I didn't realize I was this wrong until now,"

"Well, it's too late for apologizes, I've been through hell because of you." He said his attention completely focused on the Uchiha, as he got up. Sasuke rubbed his forehead and got up as well, facing the Uzumaki.

"I..I know, that's why I want to make it up to you," He said his orbs reflecting sympathy towards the blond.  
and after along pause he continued "I wanted to be there for you, I really did."

"Then where were you, when I needed you?!" The blond couldn't take it anymore, he finally lost it and rose his voice. Sasuke was taken a back by Naruto raising his voice, he gulped the lump in his throat, trying to look away, but of course he couldn't.

"Where were you when they beat the shit out of me almost everyday?! Oh that's right you never cared!"

"I do care! That's why I want to be friends again! So I can protect you!"

"No! You don't want to become friends, face it the only reason you do, is because you feel guilty!" Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, he felt his body freeze, he felt time slowing down, he felt his heat drop, he felt something he didn't know he would feel in years.

Fear.

Did it finally come to this? Was he going to lose Naruto forever?

"Just stop lying, if you actually cared, you wouldn't leave me there when I needed you the most." The angry teen clutched his hands into fists, staring deeply into Sasuke's eyes that reflected shock and another emotion he couldn't make out.

"And I'm glad, you didn't return my feelings, Sasuke," He brought his hand to his face, removing some of his golden strands from his tanned face. "Because, then I wouldn't get to see this dark side of yours." He scoffed, grabbing his bag, swinging it over behind his back, soon exiting the Uchiha's room.

Sasuke just stood there speechless.

Naruto for once in his life felt like he accomplished something, he felt like he finally did something right by telling Sasuke off. Just before Naruto wanted to leave he knocked on Itachi's room, to see him one more time before leaving. After a 'come in' was heard Naruto entered smiling a bit as he saw the older Uchiha.

"Ah Naruto," Itachi, was organizing some papers he had on his desk when Naruto entered.

"I was just about to leave, I wanted to say, hope you feel better soon,"He smiled. Itachi felt his lips being brought up to a sincere smile.

"Thank you," The teen nodded with a smile, before exiting the room. He finally made it to the door and exited the whole Uchiha mansion. He felt relived, he had been there for hours straight since it was raining, he thanked god that the rain stopped as soon as he had a argument with Sasuke. Things would've been very awkward for the both of them and it maybe could've gotten even worse.

He sighed in relief, gripping tightly onto his bag, as he felt the cold breeze hit his face.

 _I'm not a burden._

* * *

 **This chapter is dedicated to Chonan :)**

 **I wanted to thank them for their support.**


	15. Announcement

This story will no longer be updated anytime soon.


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